Requiem of a Demon
by DanielNieves
Summary: Naruto is attacked on his ninth birthday, just as Itachi kills his clan. Bereft of his dreams, Itachi helps Naruto for his own purposes, changing everything as we know it. Sharingan wielding Naruto, Naru/Yugito. Possible Jir/Tsu later chapters. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Requiem of a Demon

**Requiem of a Demon**

A/N: Don't worry, I'm not gonna bitch about lack of reviews for all my fics. I've come to terms to the fact that a portion of readers on will always be ungrateful to the authors who write, note I said a portion. Some won't have time, some won't care to. Check profile for update status for all fics. Also, if you for some reason get your panties in a bunch for previous opinion, don't leave a note, PM me. If you don't have an account, shoot me an email at , but don't leave a review to just complain about said **opinion!**

**I**

_Outside Uchiha District_

_October 10, 1109 NE_

Never had the boy hated Konoha like he did then, there, and now. The desolate moonlight left a shady reflection in the boy's eyes. The idiotic villagers deemed it to ruin his ninth birthday, which really didn't surprise the kid, they ruined it every year as far back as he could remember. Today was October 10, the ninth anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat, which as you know, was his birthday.

The boy was far from stupid, he knew himself to be the container for the fearsome Kyuubi no Kitsune. Despite the fact that he was intelligent, it didn't take long to realize the coincidence of Kyuubi's defeat as well as the day of birthday. That and there was usually a malignant voice in the back of his find, prodding, pushing him to do things, bad things.

One thing he'd never understand, as he laid there, beaten and limp like a broken puppet, he wondered about the intelligence of the villagers. Since, he the pariah happened to be the jinchiruuki of the Kyuubi, why did they insist on beating him and mistreating him? The human mind is fragile in itself, and one wrong blow could unleash the Kyuubi upon the villagers, supposing his nine year old body could harness the raw power of the Kyuubi. As the villagers gathered around his body, the nine year old wondered perhaps it'd be best if he showed the villagers who the real demon was.

He betted that maybe they'd stop beaten him then if he could rip their innards out and hang them on it. Then he'd laugh maniacally and watch as they gagged on their own blood, slowly choking, the life leaving their eyes.

He knew it was pointless to scream, they'd beat him some more. It was better for them to think he was dead, that and his throat was sore for the previous screams.

Despite how unequivocally evil the Kyuubi was, he knew it was time to heal the boy, doing it only out of self-preservation. The raw power of chakra that was running through the boy's coils was enough to send the bastards running, and there laid a nine year old boy, beaten, broken, and bereft of his hopes and dreams of being Hokage. A nine year old boy, beaten, and bloodied, laying outside the Uchiha district like some dog, ironically enough, the villagers had taken his eyes. There had definitely been shinobi in the crowd, Naruto knew that since it had been a kunai that slashed across his eyes and then gouged out. A kunai had robbed the kid of his precious eyesight. His throat hoarse he laid there, waiting to die, but God was in a jovial mood, since death never came.

II

Staring into his little brother's one tomoed Sharingan for the last time, Itachi disappeared, tears welling in his eyes. His mission was complete, and he finally stepped out of the districts entrance before breaking down, sobbing quietly. He a fifteen year old ANBU Captain had slaughtered his entire clan, save for his little otouto Sasuke. He had to make sure Sasuke never forgot, and with his Mangekyou Sharingan he had used Tsukyomi on him forcing Sasuke to relive the slaughter of his clan. It had been cruel, but necessary, done to force Sasuke to foster hate for him, so he could redeem Itachi by killing him when he was older. All was set, now he just had to gather up his bearings and find Uchiha Madara at the Valley of the End.

Lost in his own pain, it took him several moments to hear the soft sobbing and sniveling of a young boy. Itachi hardened his gaze and stared at the kid, who had apparently been attacked.

'Though it would have been next to impossible to hide in that atrociously orange jumpsuit.' Itachi thought.

Recognizing the blonde hair immediately, he knew who the boy was, the 4th Hokage's Legacy, his son. Though he doubted the boy knew it, the only reason Itachi knew this was because as ANBU Captain he had access to highly classified to top secret information.

It disgusted him to think of how they treated the boy. While the villagers didn't know of the boy's parentage, they knew he was the container for the Kyuubi and had mistreated him severely for it. Itachi walked over to him and nearly gasped in shock, they had taken the boy's eyes clean with a kunai from the looks of it.

'How could they?' Itachi's black eyes began to change into the form of the Mangekyou out of anger. The boy had been beaten and then urinated on, then they gouged out his eyes with a kunai, meaning shinobi had been involved as well. All on the boy's ninth birthday.

Itachi never really cared for the boy, simply because as ANBU Captain he never really had the time to interact with the jinchiruuki, but the boy looked to be Sasuke's age.

"Who's there?" The boy called out fearfully, trying to scramble up to his feet. Feeling bad about the situation, Itachi reached and pulled the boy up to his feet.

"Uchiha Itachi, ex-ANBU Captain." He replied shortly.

"Itachi-san, are you here to hurt me too?" the boy said, his arms shooting out to feel his immediate surroundings. Looking at the boy, Itachi could only see his brother Sasuke, and how he had hurt him. Wrapping the boy up in a fierce hug, he hugged him like he could never hug his little brother. "No Naruto, I'm not here to hurt you." Itachi said calmly, his eyes watering slightly.

"Why not?" The boy bursted out angrily, fighting against Itachi's embrace. "I'm the Kyuubi, I don't deserve to be loved or cared for. I'm not supposed to have dreams like everyone else. Please just kill me Itachi-san." Naruto begged, blood oozing out of his punctured orifices.

_**You are just a weapon, nothing else, you cannot have dreams, you are not meant to be love, nor should you love anyone else. You are a shinobi!**_

Danzou's words never left the young Uchiha, he had always taken it to heart, living solely by the old decrepit bastard's words.

"If you're not gonna kill me, just give me a kunai, I'll do it myself." Naruto spat at him, reaching with outstretched arms.

Itachi's heart broke for the boy, it was so cold that someone at his age had to live such a hated life. "What was your dream?" Itachi asked, releasing the boy.

"To be Hokage, that was my dream." Naruto said sadly, "Now all I want to do is protect myself, but I'm blind! How am I supposed to defeat what I can't see? I can't even become a shinobi now, that's all I wanted, to become a shinobi that made its village proud." Naruto said, sniveling once more as he hung his head down in defeat.

Itachi reached into the bag he carried, pulling out a scroll. He had been saving them, as per Madara's instructions, also it was supposed to be a reminder of his actions. But perhaps Shishui would be proud of him. Itachi unsealed the large scroll in his bag, where it poofed out of existence, leaving only a small jar which held two objects.

Uchiha Shishui's eyes.

"Naruto-kun. I'm going to give you you're eyesight back, this might hurt a little." Itachi spoke. He opened up the jar and pulled out the first eyeball out. Groaning in disgust he had implanted the first eye into Naruto's socket, sending chakra to his hands. His hands lit up with green chakra and the first eyeball was in. Then he grabbed the other and pushed it in, healing the socket afterwards. "Can you see now?" Itachi asked.

It was blurry for Naruto at first, then clearer, better than Naruto had seen before in his life. Naruto nodded and as he looked up to stare into the eyes of his savior, he saw blood red eyes with what looked like a three pronged shuriken surrounding the pupil.

"Thank you Itachi-niisan." Naruto went to hug him when Itachi used two fingers to poke him in the forehead.

"Tsukyomi."

Naruto was immediately thrown into the genjutsu. "Naruto-kun, this is my world of Tsukyomi, in here three days is only a second on the outside, I will do what no one has ever done, I will show you the truth about you. Naruto-kun, when I poked you in the head, I transferred part of my power to you. Now, let me show you what happened."

After the technique was dispelled, Naruto blacked out. Itachi grabbed him and shunshined away, dumping Naruto at the hospital near the Hokage's office, then he left, never again looking at Konoha.

'Sarutobi-sama, you better take care of Naruto and Sasuke. Both are vital to my redemption.'

III

Naruto woke up the next day, still a bit sore. He was back in a hospital, which in itself was pretty common. Brushing a stray hair out of his eyes, he grimaced remembering the dreams that he had, of some giant conspiracy in Konoha, the reason why he was so hated. In the dream the villagers took his eyes and some Uchiha named Itachi gave him his sight back.

Staring into a mirror and no longer seeing his typical azure color, now replaced by twin green orbs. Apparently the dreams had been real as well as everything else Itachi showed him. Naruto stood up, ripping out the IVs in his arms, they'd tried to kill him before by pouring lead into the IVs. Seconds later a nurse and few med nin came bursting in to stop him. Naruto barreled through them, leaving the hospital.

He hurried out of there and made his way to the Hokage Tower. "Are you here to see the Hokage?" A chuunin by the name of Genma asked.

"Yes, Genma-san." Naruto replied shortly, looking down at the deck. Genma nodded in surprise, Naruto never had been that polite nor stood that still before. Something was off with the boy. Genma then allowed access, Naruto walked down the halls, no glimmer in his eyes, no fake smile plastered to his whiskered face.

Today he was unequivocally him. No more hiding his emotions behind a cheerful, idiotic exterior. Naruto knocked on the Sandaime's door. "Come in." Came the curt reply. Naruto opened the door, and stepped inside.

"Ohayo Sandaime-sama." Naruto said off-handedly, giving the Hokage a small bow.

The Hokage was perplexed. He knew Naruto was never formal with anyone, and he never bowed to no one. "Are you alright Naruto-kun? I heard about the attack last night." the aged Hokage said, looking at Naruto rather sadly.

"I'm alive, am I not?" Naruto asked dismissively. "Alive isn't everything, for what it's worth I'm sorry Naruto-kun." Sarutobi apologized to the boy.

"I find that hard to believe today, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied calmly. The Hokage's sad features turned into an angry snarl. "What did you say?" He demanded.

"I don't think you're too regretful, Lord Sarutobi. I constantly get beaten up and nearly killed, but what have you done about it? You create a law that you don't enforce, and then the villagers get scared less by it. I don't pretend to be you grandson, nor do I pretend to think you actually care about me on more than an impersonal level. Most likely you never will." Naruto finished.

The Sandaime was stunned to say the least. "Naruto-kun, I'm sorry if it doesn't seem like much to you." the third Hokage said calmly, seeing as Naruto had made some perfect points. He indeed had created a law that forbade anyone to mistreat him or mention that he was the Kyuubi jinchiruuki, yet it was never really enforced, the villagers would go to jail for a few days, and then released again.

"The supposed hero of the village, the Kyuubi jinchiruuki, son to Namikaze Minato, and yet that didn't stop them from gouging out my eyes." Naruto yelled, green eyes turning blood red with one tomoe in each eye. "I've had it with this village, the next time I get attacked by anyone, leaf nin included, I will fight back, and I will kill if I have to. This is my law, my new nindo. No one has done anything to help me, except for Uchiha Itachi, and he has shown me the truth, I'm disappointed Hokage-sama."

"Where did you get all this information from?" the Sandaime asked.

"A well that never went dry. The only person honest to me in Konoha, and that definitely wasn't you." Naruto replied coldly, suddenly bursting into smoke, forcing the Hokage to realize that he'd been talking with a Kage Bunshin.

"Where the hell is Naruto going?" Sarutobi asked out loud.

IV

_**3 Days Later**_

Sasuke didn't want to get up out of bed, here in his comfortable king sized bed, he could pretend…

He could pretend his mother was downstairs cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast, and that father would be ready for another round of the fireball jutsu. Big brother would be in the woods practicing his shuriken technique, ready to carry Sasuke around on his back when he'd 'hurt' his ankle later.

All he had to do was stay in bed and he could pretend. 'Itachi-niisan wouldn't of killed all the Uchihas.' Sasuke thought, dismissing the notion that his big brother could do something like that.

Sunlight filtered in through an open curtain and snuck its way into Sasuke's eyes, blinding him for a second. He could only pretend for so long. He stood up out of bed, subconsciously rubbing his forehead where big brother used to always jam him.

'They're all really gone.' Sasuke thought, falling to his knees on the side of the bed, offering a prayer for his clan. Thinking about it all caused tears to well up in his eyes so he didn't, quickly pushing the thoughts of the Uchiha massacre.

"_**Run little brother, run. Cling to your pathetic excuse of your life, life for nothing other than killing me. Foster all you hate and devotion to me, so that one day we can fight again."**_

"_**I'm your big brother Sasuke. I'll always be there for you, even if it's only as an obstacle for you to overcome."**_

Hot tears flooded his eyes, numbing his cheeks.

"Big brother…" Sasuke panted out, sobbing, gripping the edge of his bed tightly. "Why? Why did you do this?"

Off in the distance, he heard a knock on his door. Wondering exactly who'd be knocking on his door today, Sasuke stood up and headed towards the door, wiping the evidence of his tears to the best of his knowledge. Opening the door, he was surprised by the sight that greeted him.

It was that dobe… the Uzumaki kid from class.

"Dobe… What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, head hung low to pretend he hadn't been crying.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry to hear about your family." The blonde boy said sincerely, brushing an unruly lock of spiky hair out of his eyes.

Sasuke stared at him, something seemed to be off. Especially his eyes.

Rather than the usual vibrant blue, Naruto's eyes seemed to be some sort of jade, and that was a color Sasuke only saw on a few people. Naruto seemed to be dressed in funeral attire, with some sort of black ceremonial gi, black shinobi sandals, and a black jacket.

"What's with the clothes, dobe?" Sasuke asked, feigning annoyance. He had to get going anyway, the Uchiha's funeral was in an hour.

"It's part of the reason I'm here, Sasuke. I know it's hard to lose everything and even though we aren't friends, perhaps you'd like me to accompany you to the funeral?" Naruto asked honestly.

"Why do you even care to?" Sasuke snapped at the outlandish question.

"Well mainly cause there's gonna be a bunch of old codgers there, people who didn't really care too much for the Uchihas, talking because they like the sound of their own voices and whatnot, and perhaps you'd want someone to be there for you. It sucks to be alone, to lose it all, and that I know, so I felt really bad when I heard about what happened."

Sasuke pondered it for a second. Was the boy offering him his friendship? What did he have to gain out of it?

"Why?" Sasuke asked, tears welling in his eyes again.

"Both my parents died on the night of the Kyuubi, and all my live I've lived alone, hated by all the villagers, and knowing that you lost it all, just compelled me to be here, because knowing there's someone out there like me kills me, because I wouldn't wish this on anybody." Naruto explained, tears welling up in his own eyes.

"You really wish to accompany on this?" Sasuke asked timidly.

Naruto nodded.

"Let me put on the Uchiha ceremonial clothes, and then we'll head out. Can I offer you something to drink?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, some water would be cool. It's kinda hot out here."

Sasuke nodded, and the two of them stepped into the house, the dark bitter day lessened, now that Sasuke had a friend to help him through the pain.

A/N PT2: For those who read this, thank you, and for those that review, I appreciate it.


	2. Summoned!

Requiem of a Demon

_**Requiem of a Demon**_

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Itachi: the Illusionist**_

AN: Thank you to all, your reviews kind of made me want to write another chapter. Wednesdays suck, because you're so close to the weekend.

Listening to: Sound of the Seventh Trumpet by Avenged Sevenfold. Are there any A7X fans out there?

**I**

The Sandaime sat back in his chair, puffing on a pipe, blowing the smoke through his nostrils. He sighed wearily, being the Hokage wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Old he might be, but he was not senile, and he was pretty sure he wasn't hallucinating.

'That bastard Asuma better have not laced my tobacco again.' The Hokage thought.

Uzumaki Naruto had really just stormed up into his office and exclaimed boldly that he knew of his heritage. It was bad enough that Sarutobi had always felt guilty over the years about the 4th's Legacy, and his treatment, but alas he was too old to make such an effort to make the village see him as a hero. He basically had tossed the poor boy out into the open world, hanging him out to dry, and despite the fact that he had assured the village that they were safe from the Kyuubi because of Naruto, they still saw the boy as the Yondaime's killer.

He didn't blame them for missing the prodigy that was Namikaze Minato. He had been a better Hokage than Sarutobi ever was. He had been so young, and full of talent, literally brimming with it, to only die so young. Life was never fair. Minato had been a prime example of the will of fire, constantly throwing his life on the line as he had been the huge tide turning during the Konoha/Iwa war.

Sarutobi remembered as he stood in front of the incoming platoons of Iwa nin. How calmly he stood there, while his platoon of Konoha nin shook in fear. His calamity unbroken, he handed them a three pronged kunai and told them to throw it if they ever needed him. Then he launched hundreds of the very same three pronged kunai and disappeared in a yellow flash, slaughtering wherever he went.

Minato's actions in the war against Iwa was what made him chose him over Orochimaru as a successor to the Hokage mantle. Orochimaru was a genius, with huge amount of talent and a successful sannin. But there had just been something wrong with the man. Orochimaru had been thirty six at the time Sarutobi had picked Minato, and even now he could still remember his disciple's outrage.

"_**Why Sarutobi-sensei!? What does he have that I don't, I have always strived to become Yondaime Hokage to Konoha and you're going to pass the mantle on to that kid? Some no named orphan from Amegakure! When I Orochimaru am a Sannin, a prodigy, the kind that comes once every once in a while, yet you give it to that good for nothing jounin. Tell me why, dammit! Why, Sarutobi-sensei?" Orochimaru cried out in anger.**_

"_**Because there's never been a shinobi like Namikaze Minato, and there will never be one like him again!"**_

With no apprentice or nothing to keep him in Konoha, Orochimaru left, never to be seen again.

Yet Sarutobi still remembered the pale faced boy, who arrogantly tried taking his bells thirty eight years ago. Sarutobi knew he hadn't been the best sensei to the group, but he had done his best, it had been his promise to the Shodaime, to do the very best. Sandaime knew he had faults, he was perverted like Jiraiya, possibly even more so, though the Gama Sannin had been perverted since the first day Sarutobi met him. If only he had been a better teacher from the get go. Jiraiya had been Sarutobi's second biggest regret, the first being Jiraiya's godson, Uzumaki Naruto.

"Raido-san!" The aging Kage called out. The scarred chuunin headed in immediately. "Yes, Lord Hokage?"

"Summon the council, now!"

II

Naruto and Sasuke sat on the edge of a small wooden bridge, overlooking the lake in the Uchiha district. "Sasuke-san, we have much to discuss." Naruto said, looking over at the nine year old boy. The dark haired boy turned to look at his only true friend, quirking his eyebrows, wondering what was so pertinent.

"What do you want to discuss, Naruto?" Sasuke said, kicking his legs, as they stared into the lake.

"Uchiha Itachi is not what you think he was, and neither am I." Naruto began, neon green eyes boring down into the Uchiha's black ones. Sasuke's brows furrowed, his eyes narrowing in disgust at the mere mention of his brother. It had been a day since the funeral, and he didn't want to lose his friend. He'd hear him out.

"Speak! What are you talking about?" Sasuke commanded, his eyes on the verge of watering as he began to think of what his brother had shown him, how he emotionlessly killed the whole Uchiha clan, Sasuke's parents included.

"I'll start by telling you about me, it's shorter than Itachi's story, anyway." Naruto started, the Uchiha's full attention on him now. "You've heard about the Kyuubi, right?" Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, the Yondaime defeated it right?"

"No, he didn't Sasuke. For the most part, Kyuubi is made up youkai, infinite demonic chakra, which constantly healed its injuries, making him utterly invincible. Now the Yondaime knowing he couldn't kill it, decided it to seal it into something, and it had to be a newborn baby, or else the seal wouldn't hold and it'd release the Kyuubi all over again."

"Why?"

"Because of the youkai, if it's sealed within a grown adult, the body doesn't have time to adjust to it and the coils break, destroying the body from the inside and releasing the Kyuubi out into the world again. Now if you'd seal it within a baby, it would take effect because babies don't have developed chakra coils, so therefore the youkai can settle and the Kyuubi locked away."

"How do you know?" Realization crawled up Sasuke's face. "You have the Kyuubi sealed away in you?"

Naruto nodded. "Why do you think the village hates me so? All my life, people beated me up, I couldn't shop for my own food, so I had to nick it. The academy teachers refused to teach me so I didn't learn much there, and last Sunday, I nearly died during the festival, the night when Itachi-san wiped the Uchiha clan out." Naruto stopped for a second, panting hard, remembering as an ANBU nin slashed down on him, kunai tearing into his eyes.

Tears began to fall from Naruto's face.

"Why? Why did the Yondaime force you to suffer this, why not a different baby?" Sasuke asked. "Who are your parents Naruto?"

Naruto stared at him for a second. "Sasuke, all this we're talking about now is highly classified, an SS-ranked secret, it can never leave us." Naruto said coldly, looking around him, scanning the area in paranoia.

"I don't know my mother, Sasuke. But my father, my father was the Yondaime, Namikaze Minato of Konoha." Sasuke gasped in realization.

'Of course. He sacrificed his own son, unable to ask another parent to make the sacrifice,' Sasuke thought.

"You're father's the Yondaime, Naruto. But then why do the villagers hate you so? You still haven't answered my other question? How did you almost die?" Sasuke demanded once more.

"I think that the villagers don't know of my parentage. They only see me as the Kyuubi, no, not the Kyuubi, but as the container. They think that because all that evil is stored within me, they hate me. They hate me because they can't hate the Kyuubi. They beat me because they can't beat the Kyuubi. The night of the festival, my ninth birthday, I was attacked once more by few villagers and a few Leaf nin. They beat me up for a bit, nothing out of the ordinary, but the last one, that hawk masked nin, he took my eyes Sasuke, and left me to die."

"What do you mean, you have your eyes now?"

"As I laid there dying, the Kyuubi began healing me, but it couldn't repair my eyes. Itachi had just left the district and ran into me. We talked for a bit and then he healed me. He didn't leave me there like some kind of crippled leper, like most of Konoha see fit to do, but he gave me these eyes, eyes that belonged to someone you knew close. These eyes are the eyes of Uchiha Shishui, and I now wield the Sharingan, as if I were another Uchiha." Naruto finished, turning to Sasuke, green eyes flickering, then disappearing before the Sharingan blazed brightly, twin blood red orbs staring back into Sasuke's widened eyes.

'My brother… Itachi-niisan had eyes like those.'

Sasuke stared at the Yondaime's son. "You said I knew nothing of Itachi, please tell me. Tell me why he killed my family, why did he kill them all?" Sasuke cried out, tears falling freely. He remembered the blood, its nasty metallic stink filling the air, suffocating him as he tried to run. Bodies littering the ground like discarded trash. Why did Itachi do it?

"After Itachi gave me Shishui-san's eyes, he used the Tsukyomi on me and revealed a few things. Then he gave me part of his power, not enough to weaken him, but enough to give me a few jutsus and certain knowledge. The latter was unintentional I believe, but Itachi gave me a few key memories, and when I unlocked them it was like living them all over again." Naruto said.

"Please! What memories?" Sasuke begged.

"Uchiha Itachi, ANBU Captain was ordered to kill your family by Danzou, Homura, and Koharu, key members of the village council. Danzou was the head of the ANBU, and the village's defense tactician. Danzou found out that your father Uchiha Fugaku and several other Uchihas were planning a coup d'tat, a rebellion in a sense. Fugaku was going to kill me to release the Kyuubi and kill the Sandaime and force his way into the Godaime position."

"No, my father wouldn't do that." Sasuke spat at him, standing up off the bridge and glaring daggers at Naruto. "I knew my father."

"Just like you knew Itachi. I'm not sure what your father's mental state was prior, but he had been visited by the founder of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara. Madara had been the sole conspirer behind the Kyuubi attack, he had summoned it and set it loose on Konoha. He used the same technique he used on Itachi and gave part of his power and his memories to Fugaku, who in turn would set the Kyuubi on Konoha once again." Naruto explained.

"Otousan was being used by Madara?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. Madara hated the village because they all conspired, including the Uchiha's to keep him out of the Hokage seat. Angry by the betrayals of the Uchihas, he unleashed the Kyuubi, and then he decided to destroy from the inside out. By giving your father a miniscule amount of power and memories, it was enough to trigger him into believing that the village had them there as trained dogs and nothing more. So Danzou and the village leaders sent Itachi on an undercover mission to kill your clan, all of your clan. The Third opposed, but the Council decided to do it anyway.

"They distracted the third by hiring some thugs to attack me, the Sandaime's biggest regret, while Itachi destroyed the clan. Except he left you alive, because he couldn't kill you, you were the person he loved the most, so he left you alive, tortured you so you could hate him so much that he'd be killed by you, and in a sense, redeem him for killing the clan."

Sasuke cried as Naruto finished his story. Tears kept falling from his face. How horrible it must have been for his brother, to have to go through all that. He had been alone.

'He loved me so much that he disobeyed a direct order and left me alive. Itachi-niisan, why?'

Sasuke turned his tear-streaked cheeks to the pariah of Konoha. "What do you mean, you're the Sandaime's biggest regret?"

"When father sealed the Kyuubi in me, he asked that I'd be seen as a hero, for containing the Kyuubi, but Konoha's disgraced his memory by doing the opposite. Sarutobi made a few laws that prevented the village from taking action against me, but he never really enforced it. So I've been beaten, and alone all my life, because he didn't do his job as Hokage, because he didn't follow through with my dad's last wishes, it's why I'm his biggest regret. The council used it to their advantage and paid a few thugs to beat me during the festival, but when a few nin that bear bad will against me saw this, they jumped in and took my eyes." Naruto explained, standing up and stretching.

"So in essence, we've both got some payback to deliver to the council?" Sasuke asked, smiling wickedly.

"Yeah, but only a few of those old bastards. We'll have payback, they'll pay tenfold for what they did to us both." Naruto said smiling, his Sharingan eyes shining brightly as he pictured all he could do to the council.

"But I'm too weak as it is right now." Sasuke complained.

"I know." Naruto said, staring at the dark haired boy. Suddenly the two tomoes began spinning wildly, merging with one another, forming a three pointed shuriken.

"Mangekyou Sharingan."

"No, merely a variant. But nowhere near as powerful as the real thing." Naruto said, running through a set of hand seals.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

"Giving you half the power Itachi-nii gave to me." Naruto spoke, and then a jet black crow erupted from his mouth and entered Sasuke's.

Sasuke screamed for a second, his jet black eyes turning red in the early stages of the Sharingan before turning into the Mangekyou, then back to normal. "I suggest that you don't use the Mangekyou Sharingan. Both of us are novices to it as well as the normal Sharingan and the strain it puts on us is enormous, making it ineffective, or rather useless. It will take years before we can even use it properly." Naruto said.

Bits of memories from both Itachi and Naruto flooded Sasuke for a second, and any doubt that Sasuke might have had, was quelled as he saw the memories himself. "We have company." Sasuke said pointedly. "I noticed him a few seconds ago. You can come out now, ANBU-san." Naruto exclaimed loudly.

A masked ANBU nin with spiky gray hair, came out from behind a tree reading an orange clad book.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the council demands your presence." The wolf masked ANBU said.

"Why should I trust you? I could care less of the Council's demand." Naruto growled out, but Sasuke placed a hand on his arm.

"Go with them, I'll follow behind." Naruto nodded.

"I was told to bring you by force if necessary, Uzumaki." The ANBU replied calmly, his eyes never leaving the book.

"It won't be necessary, ANBU-san." Naruto replied, walking towards him. Seconds later, both disappeared, heading towards Hokage Tower.

III

Naruto stood in front of the Council's chamber, located next to the Hokage's office. He knew the protocol, he was supposed to knock three times and wait for a response. When told to come in he headed in there, popped to attention and wait for further instructions. Naruto on the other hand, cared little for protocol. Instead of knocking, he instead strolled in, facing the Council with indifference.

He did not pop to attention.

Instead he created a Kage Bunshin and made it henge into a chair, which Naruto laid out on lazily.

"Uzumaki Naruto! You are to stand at attention!" Danzou snapped, standing out of his chair in anger.

"I will do no such thing, Danzou-san." Naruto replied evenly, making himself comfortable on the chair.

"It's Danzou-sama to you, Uzumaki. Are you refusing to obey a direct order?" Danzou asked angrily.

"I have no need to follow such stupid requests, nor will I comply if I had to, Danzou-san." Naruto replied, just as calmly.

"Danzou, shut up and sit down. We have a meeting to begin." The Sandaime Sarutobi shouted. Danzou gave him a cross look before sitting down.

"Naruto, why are you refusing to stand while speaking to the Council?" The Sandaime asked.

"Simple. I'm not gonna stand here, while you sit. I'm in no way or shape, inferior to any of you, even you Sandaime-ojisan. If you old bastards can sit, then so will I." Naruto said.

One of the Council members left up to his feet, charging at the boy. Haruno Zaku if Naruto's memory served correctly. "Die, demon." Zaku charged, sliding a kunai from a sleeved shirt, taking a swipe at the boy. Naruto stood to his feet, and then froze. Zaku halted for a second.

"Last chance old man." Naruto said calmly. Zaku charged once more, kunai in hand and thrusted it to Naruto's face, killer intent leaking in the room. Without using his Sharingan eyes, Naruto tracked the movement and speed of the attack and grabbed the kunai, Zaku swung his other hand and Naruto ducked underneath the hand holding the kunai, snapping the arm with it as he bended the arm behind his back and impaled the man in the back of the head wit his own kunai, effectively stapling him to the wall.

The old Hokage looked outraged. He stood to his feet in anger and shouted at Naruto. "Naruto-kun, you've just killed a Council member, a retired jounin at that!" the Sandaime yelled.

"He broke two important laws, and I was merely defending myself. I told you old man, you created laws that you don't enforce. Not only did he call me demon, but he tried to stab me with a kunai. I told you that the next motherfucker who tried to kill me would die, no exceptions, no mercy. I didn't come here to get attacked, though it doesn't surprise me with a council as dirty and tainted as this one." Naruto growled out.

"It is as you say." The Sandaime said, defeated.

"Who are you to come in here and kill a council member? If you would of kept your trap shut and have been respectful then this wouldn't of happened." Inuzuka Tsume shouted, standing up.

"It wouldn't of happened!" Naruto said laughing. "It has happened everyday. You people stand there all judgemental, I was respectful, everyday to you bastards and instead of showing some respect, even if it had been minimal, it would have been okay. Instead you ostracized me, forcing me to live as an outcast, kids in the academy hate me because of you people, teachers refused to teach me, and most importantly, Danzou-_**sama**_ over there, hired some nin to beat me, and took my eyes, all so he could use Uchiha Itachi to kill the Uchiha clan."

"Liar!" Danzou exclaimed angrily.

"You hired nins to attack Naruto while Itachi killed his clan?" the Sandaime asked, turning to his old rival.

"No." Danzou replied, trying not to get caught. It didn't escape Hyuuga Hiashi.

"He's lying, I can see it with my Byakugan." Hiashi said, standing to his feet as well.

"How do you know this?" Nara Shikaku asked, watching the boy.

"After Danzou's thugs took my eyes, Itachi pitied me. He had just finished killing the clan with the exception of Sasuke, he gave me Uchiha Shishui's eyes and transferred some of his power to me, as well as parts of his memories. This is how I know this. What your excuses for your treatment of me?" Naruto asked.

"We wanted to protect our kids, so we told them to stay away from you. No one know's about the Yondaime's seal and what it does, for all we know you could be the Kyuubi right now."

"My father's seal did as it was supposed to. It sealed the Kyuubi away, and leaks his youkai, converting into normal chakra and eventually killing him. If I had died four days ago, the Kyuubi would have been released in Konoha again, killing you all. Why did you disgrace my father's last wishes? He asked that I be seen as a hero, and instead you turn me into a fucking pariah! Why did the Council disgrace Namikaze Minato and his legacy, his only son?" Naruto spat at them and a few gasped in surprise.

"We didn't know! No one knew of your heritage?" Yamanaka Inoichi said defensively.

"Look at me! How many kids in Konoha look like him? And even if I hadn't, for the village to treat me as if I were… as if I were the Kyuubi? How long did you think my sanity would hold for? I don't get it, by all rights I should burn this village to the ground for what you did to me, while you bastards ate warm meals, I was denied them, and I had to filter through the garbage like some street urchin." Naruto spat out. He then turned to the Hokage, facing him.

"Yes, Naruto-kun."

"Old man, you disappointed me worst of all. You knew who my father was, and his last wishes, hell you where there when the Kyuubi attacked. I understand that you didn't want Iwa to hunt me down as the sole heir to the Namikaze clan. I understand. Honestly. But what happened to the duties of a Hokage, ne Sandaime-jiji?" Naruto asked angrily, tears sliding down his cheeks.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" The Sandaime asked, his face falling at the sight of the boys tears. He was just a boy, who had to endure such hells, and even then it hadn't completely broken him.

"As Hokage, it is your duty to protect every single person in the village. I love everyone in this village like a family, it is why the will of fires never die!" Naruto recited, it was almost as if he was disgusted with the very words the Sandaime once spoke to him. "What about me, gramps? How come I wasn't protected? Nine years I've endured the beatings and rarely did I receive help. I was attacked by the fucking ANBU for fuck's sake! What about my will of fire? All I wanted was to be just like you and the Yondaime, a hero, someone the village could be proud of. What about my dreams, old man? Do you even care?" Naruto cried out, drying his teary eyes with his sleeve.

"What about the man you just killed? Haruno Zaku, he had a family, and now you'll leave his daughter fatherless? How are you that different from the Kyuubi?" Akimichi Chouza asked, glaring at him.

"I've been fatherless and motherless for nine years, I'm sure Sakura will survive!" Naruto snapped in reply.

"Are you quite done with the pity dity, Naruto?" Danzou asked, standing up and walking towards the boy. Sharingan blazing, Naruto faced him with an equal glare.

"Perhaps it might sound like I'm a whiny bitch to you. If you had to live it, would you survive? Tsukyomi!" Naruto yelled, sending Danzou spiraling into a vivid genjutsu.

"Where are we?" Danzou asked.

"This is my world, the world of Tsukyomi, where one day here lasts a second out there. Let's see if you're as tough as you claim to be Danzou?"

He wasn't.

One day of Naruto's life was enough to leave him screaming and sobbing on the floor at the Council's feat. The Council had mixed reactions, some were disgusted, some watched in awe.

What had he done to Danzou to leave him a screaming mess on the deck?

"Enough Naruto." The Sandaime commanded angrily.

"I released the technique seconds ago. It seems that Danzou didn't like living life through my life for a day." Naruto replied.

"That's all you did?" Inuzuka Tsume asked.

Naruto nodded.

"What is it that you want?" Sandaime asked.

"Normality. I just want to live my life, become a genin without wondering who will attack next. Was that too much to ask?" Naruto demanded.

"Do explain." Hiashi commanded.

"A normal childhood. I want you to stress to the villagers, the ANBU and everyone the ramifications in another attack against this village. Explain the fucking seal that the Yondaime created solely to kill the Kyuubi. I'm not asking you to tell the world I'm the Yondaime's son, it's not time for that yet, but I wish for normality, rather than hypocrisy." Naruto finished.

Naruto turned to leave.

"Naruto!" The Sandaime called out to him before he could go.

"Yea?" Naruto asked, without turning around.

"It really saddens me. You're nothing like your father. The strength might be there, but everything else…." The Sandaime trailed off, his own eyes watering.

"I know. You know the funny thing is? You could have changed that. All of you." And with that Naruto was gone.

"What are we gonna do about Danzou, and the perpetrators?" Hiashi asked.

"For Danzou, life in prison with no parole. For Koharu and Homura and any person involved in the attack against Uzumaki Naruto, public execution." The Sandaime spat out.

Life just got interesting in Konoha.

IV

_**Time Skip**_

_**3 Years**_

_**Hokage's Office**_

Finally the Hokage made his decisions on the new genin squad, it had taken time but he finally found purposes for the rookie nine. For hours he looked at the stats and skills, and usefulness, factoring in kekkei genkais as well as clan jutsus. This was what he could come up with.

Infiltration Squad- Jounin Sensei- Maito Gai

Yamanaka Ino- Fangirl kunoichi whose main use lays in her Yamanaka mind techniques.

Nara Shikamaru- A replica of his father, particular lazy and unmotivated, but has firm grasp in his clan jutsus.

Akimichi Chouji- Squad powerhouse. Constantly eats like an Akimichi, but truly devoted to his best friend Shikamaru. Very proficient in clan techniques and has the chakra of a chuunin.

First Strike Attack Squad- Jounin Sensei- Mitarashi Anko

Haruno Sakura- Smartest rookie kunoichi in Konoha. Genjutsu is on a capable level. Ninjutsu is nearly non existence as well as taijutsu. Mediocre medical capabilities are her biggest strength.

Aburame Shino- A genius, mind is very capable much like Hyuuga Neji. Extremely proficient with clan techniques. Taijutsu and Genjutsu are a weak point.

Hyuuga Hinata- Unfit to be a kunoichi. Proficient in the Hyuuga Style taijutsu, but lacks mental capability as well as confidence to be the greatest kunoichi in Konoha. Both weaknesses are cased by overbearing and pompous father, perhaps her sensei can cure her of it.

Heavy Assault Fighter Squad- Jounin Sensei- Hatake Kakashi

Inuzuka Kiba- Brash and arrogant, but extremely proficient in taijutsu and clan ninjutsu due to close relationship with his puppy ninken Akamaru.

Uchiha Sasuke- Well developed Sharingan, has copied nearly a hundred jutsus while attending Chuunin exams. Taijutsu and genjutsu are off the charts, while his ninjutsu is mediocre.

Uzumaki Naruto- An enigma. A ninjutsu and chakra powerhouse. Proficient with genjutsus that are eye based, others are lacking. Taijutsu is average. It is unknown how many jutsus he knows or copied with Uchiha Shishui's Sharingan, supposing it's actually his Sharingan… Could it be possible it became Naruto's very own Sharingan, the possibilities are endless.

Satisfied with his choices, Sarutobi aimed to find his grandson Konohamaru and play with him. In a world as cold as this one, Sarutobi learned that kids, the future generation of Konoha were very important and should not be neglected.

V

Konoha Ninja Academy

After Naruto and Sasuke avoided a particular group of some stupid kunoichi wannabe fangirls, and waited for the arrival of Iruka-sensei to tell them who their team would be. Naruto knew that he and Sasuke would probably be on different teams, it would be pretty unfair to have two Sharingan users on one team. Sasuke pretty much hoped Sakura wouldn't end up on his team and Naruto hoped Ino wouldn't. Both girls had been chasing after the two of them since that one day they entered the academy as friends.

It had been odd, once the Third Hokage told the people of Konoha about Naruto, and exactly what he meant to them. Not much had really changed in the older generation, their hate was far too set on the boy to change, but rather than beat him or pelt him with rocks, they kept their distance, fearing of the Kyuubi escaping its prison and killing them once again.

The newer generation seemed to like him a bit more. Rather than turning away from him, a majority thanked him for the sacrifice that he had to make, living as the most hated person in Konoha.

Not that he really cared, it was far too late for their appreciation. They hated him too after all. When his teachers refused to teach him, none of them gave him a hand in the first year, except Sasuke. Sasuke had been the one to help him in his first academy weeks, though at the time Naruto himself had been ungrateful, and turned Sasuke into the rival he had to beat someday.

It's the only reason he had even considered telling him the truth about Itachi, he had felt that Sasuke should know.

It's surprising what could happen when Naruto showed up back at the academy, knowing all the answers, and dressed up in different clothes than that horrid orange jumpsuit. He had began wearing better clothes and grown his hair out, and suddenly he was as popular as Sasuke himself. Before, he used to try so hard to please everyone, and they called him annoying.

Now when he wakes up, he drinks himself a big cup of fuck it juice and suddenly they notice him. He'd been and still was far too lonely and far too angry to care. Fuck them.

"Here are the teams." Umino Iruka said, walking in, giving a small glare to Naruto. He never liked the boy, but for his own safety he managed to suppress his own anger. His parents had been killed in the Kyuubi attack and he still held a grudge, though he supposed that wasn't the only reason he hated the boy.

Mainly, it was because Naruto's visage in itself was blasphemous. The boy looked more like the Yondaime everyday, once he stopped cutting his hair. Now he wore black ninja pants and sandals, and a black, sleeveless, tight fitting shirt. There was a yellow sash around his waist, holding a kunai pouch. Adorning his head was the leaf village hitai-ate, he even ditched the original navy blue that had been handed out to them yesterday. Now it was pressed against a long black sash, then wrapped around his forehead, and tied in a knot, the two remaining ends hanging down to his mid-back.

'The Yondaime was my hero, and here's this thing, daring to look like him.' Iruka thought angrily.

Naruto's blonde locks were as unruly and spiky as ever, two blonde locks hanging down the side of his face, and the back end tied into a spiky ponytail.

Another reason Iruka hated the boy was because of his apathy. He literally cared for nothing, for nobody except Sasuke. Iruka couldn't get him to train, until it was test times and even then he did the bare minimum to pass, yet Iruka was not stupid, he knew there lied a lot of power, even if it was dormant.

For now.

Glaring at him now, the boy merely stared at him back, his face unreadable covered by a veil of calamity. His eyes themselves were expressionless, almost taunting Iruka, as if Iruka was so unimportant that he'd get nothing out of the boy.

That really pissed him off.

There was little he could do about it. The Hokage warned him not to hold a grudge for the boy, and that his life was on the line if he did so. The aging Hokage told him to take it easy on the boy, that while Iruka was hurting from the loss of his parents, the Sandaime reminded him that Naruto never had any.

Perhaps he'd been wrong about him.

Perhaps he had been the loneliest one of them all and Iruka was too wrapped up in guilt to see it.

He would invite him to some ramen later and talk, and try to decipher the blank void that was Uzumaki Naruto.

"Team Seven consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka said as calmly as he could, mimicking the Naruto's demeanor in the hopes or getting the rise out of him.

Of course this pissed the fangirls off.

"I want to be on Sasuke's team."

"I want to be on Naruto's team."

"Shut it!" Iruka drawled out lazily. He ran through a few more names but by this time, Naruto was already asleep. A frown marred Iruka's scarred face.

'That teme.' Reaching over to the chalkboard, he picked up a piece of chalk and pelted it at the boy's head. Just before it could touch him, Naruto's hands shot up and grabbed it, squeezing it before the chalk dissolved into nothing but dust.

"I'm not asleep Iruka-sensei." More apathy. "But Shikamaru is." Ino whined in Naruto's defense.

"Hey baka!" Iruka pelted another piece and woke the sleeping Nara. "Team Seven, your jounin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi, he'll be arriving within an hour. Team Eight your jounin instructor will be Hyuuga Akina, Team Nine your jounin instructor will be Mitarashi Anko, and Team Ten your instructor will be Maito Gai." Iruka finished.

Half an hour passed and every team but team seven was gone.

"Where is this Kakashi guy?" Kiba asked, as if Sasuke or Naruto could answer. Naruto had engaged Kiba in small talk, since they were teammates after all it would be best to get a feel for him.

"I don't know." Naruto replied curtly, spinning a kunai around on his index finger. He too was waiting his sensei's arrival, but for a different reason.

Another hour passed and finally, a spiky haired nin walked through the door. He had grey hair, which was unnaturally spiked to the left, his hitai-ate covering his left eye. Kakashi walked in and stared at the kids, seeing Naruto for the first time in years.

"Minato?" Kakashi asked, his face blank.

"Naruto." Naruto replied, before launching a kunai at Kakashi's face, a sadistic grin marring his boyish features.

End of Chapter

Read and Review, it's all I can ask for. Real notes though, I was planning on making this a really dark Naruto story, but I don't think it's gonna happen. I kinda see Naruto as smart, powerful, with a vindictive streak in this fic. No ideas as to pairings, but rest assured, this is not a yaoi fic. I really don't want to hear any complaints about OOCness from certain characters, mainly because this is AU. Each characters life diverged in different directions causing things to change per say. I promise I will do right by as many of the characters as I can. Let me know what you think!

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	3. Like father, like sonOr not

Requiem of a Demon

**Requiem of a Demon**

**Chapter 3: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON… OR NOT**

**A/N: I can't even lie. I'm loving the review responses from you guys, and even though I just put out the chapter two last night, here's another one for you, hopefully you aren't got to wait to too long for this update.**

I

With the experience a jounin and ANBU Captain could only obtain, Hatake Kakashi reached out and gripped the kunai, seconds before it could pierce his eye, spinning around Naruto, and giving him a good slap to the back of the head.

"Save that for later, ne Naruto?" The jounin said, digging into his pocket for his favorite treat of the day, Icha Icha Paradise.

'God bless Jiraiya-sama.' Kakashi thought, before staring at the three students he was supposed to take up. The group did look promising, and that Uzumaki kid, he looked nearly identical to Minato. Thoughts of the past rummaged around Kakashi's brain and he shook it off, there were other matters that needed tending to.

"Ohayo, ero-sensei." Naruto greeted, noticing the orange book. Naruto supposed that Kakashi didn't like that too much, his visible eye glared at him. Not that he cared really.

"It's Kakashi-sensei, or Kakashi. I'm not that perverted." Kakashi said sternly, ruffling the kid's hair, much to the boy's distaste. He couldn't help it really, the boy looked like a chibi Yondaime, there were subtle differences of course, and Naruto had whiskered cheeks and eyes that had no visible life left in its green orbs.

'Could this boy really be the Kyuubi jinchiruuki?'

"You know it's not nice to show up late, Kakashi-sensei. We've been waiting for two hours." Naruto replied.

"I'm sorry gaki, I was almost here and got lost on the road of life. Several villagers were trying to attack a scared kitten in a tree so I naturally had to stop and save him." Kakashi said cheerily, his eye crinkling up into a smile.

"What are you hiding behind the mask sensei?" Kiba asked.

"Let's meet up on the roof and introduce ourselves." Kakashi said, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

This team could be very promising indeed.

Knowing it'd take them a couple seconds to make it to the roof, Kakashi began to read with fervor.

'Yukani laid on her back, pulling the stranger towards her. Her thighs were sticky with her own juices, its scent rising to the stranger's nose promising a very good night. The stranger was just some seventeen year old villager, a virgin by the guess of it as he fumbled with his zipper nervously…'

"Ero-sensei, stop reading that garbage, ne." a loud voice interrupted his thoughts.

Naruto and Sasuke were on the roof watching him. Kakashi subtly shifted his pants, hoping none of them would notice. "Wait for me!" Kiba yelled, running up the stairs, Akamaru in tow. Kiba joined his two teammates. "You temes have to teach me how to do the shunshin." He said angrily, panting slightly.

Kakashi eyed the bows warily. Naruto and Sasuke knew the shunshin already, and they just graduated. How good were they?

"Okay, let's start with introductions. I'm Hatake Kakashi, I like many things you shouldn't know about yet, I dislike a few things like waiting for the next installment of my favorite book to come, and for hobbies I like to read. I'm an ex ANBU Captain and possibly you're sensei." Kakashi said, noticing the wince on Naruto's face when he mentioned the ANBU. Not that he could blame the boy for his natural distrust of them.

He heard all about their attack three years ago.

"You, the dog boy!" Kakashi said bluntly, irritating Kiba and Akamaru.

"I am Inuzuka Kiba. I like Akamaru and training with him. I dislike cats, stupid fangirls fawning over the broody types. My dream is to be clan leader for the Inuzuka Clan and help pass laws that protect dogs in the village." Kiba said, giving a small glare at Naruto and Sasuke.

"Hey Blondie! You go next." Kakashi ordered, and the vehement look the boy gave him was enough to make Kakashi reconsider calling him Blondie again.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, for now anyways. I like nothing really, except learn and creating jutsus. I hate a good portion of the village and all of the ANBU. My only dream is to be a better shinobi than the Yondaime and merge the Uchiha clan and my own and bring us back to the glory we were once at." Naruto said.

Kakashi stared at the boy for a second. No way. That boy, was that boy his sensei's son? If so, how come he never knew? He had to find out. Kakashi then nodded at the Uchiha kid and waited for his response. Sasuke was sitting down Indian style, hands clasped together. "As you know my name is Uchiha Sasuke, like Naruto I don't like much, I dislike the village Council and my dreams are to revive me and Naruto's clan and to save my brother Itachi." Sasuke said, pushing away his memories.

"Alright, that's enough of the introductions. Meet me at Training Field seven tomorrow at seven o'clock sharp!" Kakashi ordered them and chuckled when he saw Naruto's incredulous look.

"So does that mean to show up around ten then?" Naruto asked bluntly.

"No, it means to show up at seven." Kakashi replied, crinkling his eyes up in a smile.

Giving them a small wave, Kakashi disappeared out of there, followed by Naruto and Sasuke.

"Akamaru, we so have to learn how to do that." Kiba grunted, petting his puppy. Akamaru barked in response. Kiba stood up and started sprinting back home, ready to beg his sister Hana for another jutsu.

II

Sarutobi contemplated leaving a bunshin to do his job for him so he could dip out of there and get a bowl of ramen. 'That does sound good.' Sarutobi thought. Just as he stood up out of his chair, there was a soft knock on his door. 'Fuck.' He groaned inwardly. "Come in." he said, hoping he didn't sound like he felt.

In walked Kakashi, Icha Icha book in his hands. "There's something I got to ask you Hokage-sama." Kakashi said, standing at attention in front of the old Sandaime.

"At ease." Sarutobi said, knowing full well that Kakashi's politeness and bearing was just a ruse. "Ask away." The Hokage said, pulling out a pipe out of his drawer. 'This might take a bit.'

Kakashi dropped out of attention and stared at the Hokage, head tilted to the side, spiky hair hanging down. "It's about Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi admitted. "That boy, I know he's the jailor for the Kyuubi, but is there anything else you want to tell me about him before I take his team in as students?" Kakashi asked.

"There's nothing else you need to know about him." Sarutobi said, stressing the need part.

"Is he sensei's son?" Kakashi asked.

"What makes you say that?" Sarutobi asked calmly, grating Kakashi's nerves. The Icha Icha book disappeared, and an accusatory finger pointed at the Yondaime's picture.

"He looks just like him. He doesn't just resemble him, I thought it was him when I saw him today. Is he the Yondaime's son?" Kakashi demanded. Being an ANBU, there was always information that was withheld, but this particular piece should have been told to him years ago.

"Like I said, you don't need to know." The Sandaime replied evenly.

"Yes I do. Don't you get it, dammit? All this time, Minato was like a father to me, especially after otousan's death, he was there for me. Then he gets killed for this village and his son, his son gets ostracized, beaten and his eyes taken. I could have been there for him. Those that don't follow rules are trash, but those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash. I'm trash. All this time I've been living in the past, regretting sensei's death, Obito's death, and Rin's disappearance, and that boy had no one, not even me. I've disgraced his father by not being there, I'm a supposed genius, how come I didn't figure it out?" Kakashi said, his only visible eye showing more emotion then he had shown in years.

"You didn't know." Sarutobi said calmly, standing up and placing his hand on Kakashi's shoulder.

"That's what makes me an idiot. Not to mention his last name, Uzumaki, that was Kushina's surname wasn't it? Twelve years he was despised, I even despised him after Minato's death, and I didn't know. I know you're the Hokage, but fuck, that's something you should have told me!"

"Is there anything else?"

"Nothing, though I can see why he doesn't trust you. The boy knows doesn't he? I remember the first time I met, how boastful he was about being Hokage, and you destroyed that dream by letting those ungrateful fucking villagers nearly kill him. You could have had another Yondaime, hell the kid seems powerful enough, and instead he doesn't want anything to do with that shit job. I'll be own my way, Hokage-sama, it appears I have twelve years of making up to do." Kakashi snapped, turning around and leaving.

Sarutobi sighed.

Kakashi hated him too. 'Ramen don't sound too bad now.'

'Neither does peeping, it's a shame Jiraiya's been gone for so long. That transparency jutsu was useful.'

III

Naruto walked with Sasuke back to the Uchiha district. The two had been living in its remnants since after the day Naruto accompanied Sasuke to the funeral. Once Sasuke found out where Naruto had been living and how he'd been eating, he promptly invited his only friend to stay with him.

Part of him knew he was scared to live all alone in the very district his family was assassinated. Naruto being his best friend was a bonus. Normally the two would engage in a few taijutsu spars and practice their ninjutsus but Naruto seemed pretty out of it.

"Hey dobe." Sasuke said, raising his eyebrows at the green eyed blonde. Naruto grimaced for a second, and then looked at Sasuke.

"What do you want Sas_uke?_" Naruto said, panting slightly.

"You alright?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. I'm just trying to filter through my memories. Wasn't our sensei that ANBU that took me to the Council that day I told you everything?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's curiosity piqued. He began to recall that day that changed his life in so many ways and then remembered him. That perverted sensei of his off in the background, Icha Icha book in tow. "Yea it was him." Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded numbly, and then sneezed.

'Someone must be talking about me.'

"How about go out to eat before we train? I'll pay." Naruto offered, and Sasuke had to agree to that one. The two boys headed of to a restaurant Chouji recommended them that offered the best barbequed pork ever.

IV

Kiba glared at his sister Inuzuka Hana. He had been begging her to teach him some ninjutsu, but she refused to cave in. "Come on neechan." Kiba begged, Akamaru barking, throwing his two cents in.

"I'm busy all day at the vet's office. Kuromaru got injured pretty badly in his last mission and kaasan wants him healed as soon as possible." Hana replied, ruffling Kiba's hair. Her otouto could be annoying at times, but she was thankful for his enthusiasm.

"What if I offered to him you at the vet's today. Will you teach me some cool jutsu, ne Hana-neechan?" Kiba pleaded and even Akamaru joined, holding out his paw to Hana. Unable to resist the little puppy, Hana held its paw in her hand and gently scratched behind his ear. Akamaru licked her hand in response.

"I guess so." She said, shrugging. "So who'd you get teamed up with?" she asked gently, picking up Akamaru and patting it softly, much to the dog's pleasure.

"I got stuck with two of the most stuck up kids in class. I got Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto." Kiba said, growling in annoyance.

"Naruto huh? That boy who looks just like the Yondaime? He's definitely a cutie, if only I was five years younger." Hana contemplated. "Sometimes I wonder though, if the Yondaime had a kid, it'd be that Naruto boy." Hana said.

"You think Naruto's cute?" Kiba growled out.

Hana shrugged. "Yeah. You got a problem with it? It's not like I'm going to date the boy, just merely stating a fact. Uzumaki-san is sexy and the Uchiha, well he's not my type. Come on, have you seen Naruto's whisker marks. There so cute."

"Just be quite, you're starting to sound like one of their fangirls. Let's just hurry up at the vet and we can get back to learning a jutsu." Kiba said, snatching back his puppy and placing him on his parka hood.

Hana rolled her eyes in disdain. Kiba could be so rude.

The two headed off to the vet's office where Hana worked part-time. It was time to cure their kaasan's dog Kuromaru.

V

Naruto sat atop of the Yondaime's head cursing him. Another villager was dumb enough to cross him, but this time Naruto let the man live. He couldn't kill every villager, even if he was sorely tempted to at times. Naruto used the shunshin and hurried over to the downtown portion of the village where he ran into Kakashi, once again.

"Yo." Kakashi said, and Naruto ignored him. He kind of wanted to get back to the Uchiha district before dark so he could practice the Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu a few times. He had already mastered that and the Housenka but it didn't do harm to practice.

"Naruto." Kakashi said, annoyed at the genin's indifference to him.

Naruto furrowed his brows and stared at his sensei. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto waited for the pertinent lecture he figured would come next.

"You ready for tomorrow?" Kakashi asked. Before they could continue what might have been a conversation, which sorely depended on Naruto, they were interrupted by an infamous pink haired banshee.

"Naruto!" She yelled, twirling a kunai on her fingers, standing in an academy taijutsu stance.

"What do you want Haruno?" Naruto asked angrily. He avoided Sakura whenever possible, usually she bothered him with questions on how to seduce Sasuke and whatnot and was very insistent on top. Apparently she just didn't get that her Sasuke-kun just didn't like her. Not that Naruto blamed him.

"Is it true that you killed my father three years ago?" Sakura grimacing, teeth clenched, poised to strike at any second.

Naruto flinched visibly. Haruno Zaku had been his only kill. He regretted it now, but at the time he had been so set on setting an example to the Council that he coldheartedly murdered him, even if he had tried to kill him first. He had just reacted to the incoming kunai and didn't think twice about shoving the thing into the back of his head. "Yeah, I did." Naruto said calmly, belying the emotions that he had pent up.

"Why?" She demanded. "Why did you kill Zaku-otousan?" She had her other hand in her shuriken pouch, ready to launch them at the blonde.

"It would be unwise to attack me Haruno. You should learn from your father's mistakes." He spoke bluntly. "Or you'll end up like him."

Kakashi stared at the blonde. This was Minato's son. It had to be a joke, this kid talked about killing his classmate's father so cruelly, as if it were an everyday occurrence.

"My father attacked you?" Sakura asked, clearly intimidated by Naruto's presence. The way he carried himself was astonishingly frightening. It's almost as if he were expecting an attack from everywhere, green eyes darting about.

"I can't tell you much because it's classified, but he committed treason and tried to kill me, a clan leader." Naruto replied.

"So it's true. Kaasan was right, you're evil, there's nothing good left in you. You should have died in my father's place, but I'll rectify that. This is for my father." Sakura screeched, rushing forward launching a kunai at his head. Naruto blocked the kunai with one of his own, smacking the head of the kunai in a way that sent it spiraling back at Sakura's face. Before it could connect, Kakashi stepped in and grabbed it. The glare he sent to Naruto was packed full of killer intent and was enough to send Sakura cowering.

"Go home." He ordered Sakura. With a defiant look on her face she turned to Naruto.

"I'm going to train everyday, and one day, I'll avenge my father's death, Uzumaki Naruto." She turned and walked away, no longer the confident nin she'd been minutes ago as tears streamed down her face.

Kakashi couldn't help himself and grabbed Naruto by the front of his jacket and lifted him up in the air. "You feel strong enough to take on your sensei Naruto?" Kakashi asked, and received nothing more than indifference.

"I was merely defending myself." Naruto stated.

"You didn't have to talk to her about her father like that." Kakashi said sourly. "You're nothing like my sensei. Do you think you're otousan would of approved?" Kakashi asked.

"So you found out, ne? If Namikaze Minato was in front of me, I'd tell him to burn in hell, or the Shinigami's stomach for all I care. He's the one to blame for all this, to condemn me to live such a life. If you were his student, why didn't you help me?" Naruto asked lividly, his eyes lighting up in anger.

"The Yondaime was a great man, you should not speak bad of your otousan." Kakashi snapped at him.

"I have no otousan therefore I'll speak about him however I want. The Yondaime was a stupid fool who gave up his life for a stupid, ungrateful village." Naruto snapped back at the silver haired jounin.

"What did you say?" Kakashi asked, his fists clenching in anger, his dark eyes demanding the genin to repeat his statement.

"You heard me sensei. He was nothing more than a fool giving up his life for a stupid village, and sacrificed his only child to do it. I hope he rots wherever he's at." Before Naruto could finish Kakashi had already punched him across the face, sending him tumbling to the dirt. A few villagers saw this and cheered from the side.

Kakashi grabbed Naruto, forcing him to his feet, and punched him in the stomach. "You ungrateful son of a bitch." Kakashi exclaimed, tears welling up in his eyes. "He gave up his life to save yours and everyone else's and you dare disrespect him like that." Kakashi barked, looking into the jade eyes of his sensei's son.

"Fuck the Yondaime. How dare he put the Kyuubi in me, a fucking newborn and then get himself killed on top of it. He couldn't of stuck around and help his child, protect him from an angry village, instead he passed on the mantle to an old geezer to old to do anything about it. He left me with no one, no one to help me, to protect me, to feed me. You ever have to go digging through people's garbage for breakfast sensei? You called me ungrateful, what is there to be grateful of? He left me alone, to live life as a loser, a blind one damn near thanks to this village." Naruto pushed Kakashi off him.

"If I had known…" Kakashi began. "It's of little consequence now, Kakashi-san. Maybe you were the Yondaime's disciple, but don't ever expect me to change my opinion because you think he was great, you don't have to walk around with a demon stuck in your gut." Naruto said. He was about to walk away, when Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"For what it's worth I'm sorry. I promise I'll do my best to make up these last twelve years to you. The Yondaime was like a father to me, so you can think of me as your aniki." Kakashi said lazily, trying to patch up the relationship with Naruto.

"Whatever." Naruto stated walking away. "I'll see you tomorrow, sensei."

VI

Naruto awoke at six in the morning and hurried off to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower. He jumped into the shower and hopped out a few minutes later, fully washed. He dressed in his normal attire, black ninja pants rolled up to mid shin, with yellow bandages wrapping around the end of his pants down to his ankle. He put on his black sandals on and then a sleeveless black spandex shirt, fitting his lithe form perfectly.

His stomach growled and he wanted a bit of breakfast before heading out. He quickly tied the yellow sash around his waist, and put on his hitai-ate, tying it into a knot. He hurried up and tied a kunai holster around his leg and hurried down to the kitchen.

Sasuke was already there, softly chewing on an apple. He tossed one over to Naruto who caught it and began eating it. Naruto reached into the fridge and pulled out this new drink he bought at the grocery store. It was called 'Monster' and was supposed to be an energy drink. Naruto shrugged, cracked the top open and began drinking it.

It tasted vulgar.

"Sasuke, you bastard. Why did you buy goat's piss for?" Naruto demanded, tossing him the can. Though Naruto did realize he was fully awake now, he also knew that he never wanted another 'Monster' again.

The two of them rushed out of the door and shunshined, making it to the Training Grounds at six thirty. Kiba got there shortly after and engaged the two of them in conversation. Much to Kiba's surprise, they actually talked to them. For the most stuck up guys in his glass, they seemed down to earth.

They sat around talking for a bit.

Kakashi didn't show up for another three hours. "You're late!" Kiba yelled out, Akamaru barked a few times.

"Sorry about that guys. Some old guy was getting mugged by some troublesome thugs and I intervened and stopped them." Kakashi explained.

Naruto raised his right eyebrow in disbelief.

"I would give you guys the standard bell test, but I'm going to break tradition. I'm supposed to scare you and make you think I'm going to fail you, but I'm not. I was ordered to pass you guys and well I was going to do it anyway." Kakashi stated lazily.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Don't ask. We passed, that's all I need to know, ain't that right Akamaru?" Kiba asked, rubbing his dog's stomach.

"I'd be a fool if I wasn't. I have an Inuzuka, an Uchiha, and you Naruto. But I will be testing you guys. Hokage-sama wants to turn you guys into a Heavy Assault Squad, so we'll see how great you are. What I'm about to make next are Iwa Bunshins, their pretty hard to destroy so have fun."

Three Iwa bunshins popped out and Kakashi disappeared, leaving his clones to handle the three.

Sasuke and Naruto smiled. They hadn't had a good fight in ages. Kiba and Akamaru already used their Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry and the two Kiba's were charging at Kakashi, ready to unleash the Gatsuuga.

"Lesson One: Taijutsu." Kakashi said, and the clones engaged the genin.

Naruto sprinted at his, hooking a kunai around his hand and throwing it at the bunshin. The bunshin blocked, and almost didn't avoid the punch Naruto sent his way. It ducked under his blow and punched him in the back. Naruto flew face first into the dirt and got up angrily. Charging again at the bunshin, he hurled a set of shuriken at it and as it blocked it, he kicked his leg out, aiming for his head but the Kakashi bunshin simply grabbed his right leg, holding him there.

'Shit.' Naruto thought. He swung his left fist to get the bunshin to let go, but failed. He swung again and jumped on his free leg, kicking the bunshin in the face, knocking him back a few feet. Landing on his feet, he crouched and sprinted once more, landing another punch to the Iwa bunshin's face.

"Earth Style: Inner Decapitation Jutsu!" Kakashi yelled, hands shooting up from under the earth and grabbing Naruto's ankles pulling him down.

There was a poof of smoke only to reveal to Kakashi that it had been a shadow clone.

Over to the right Sasuke and Kakashi were parrying each other's blows. Sasuke ran through a set of handseals which Kakashi recognized.

'He's much too young to know this jutsu.'

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu." Sasuke yelled, arching back and then blowing a huge fireball, speeding towards the jounin.

Kakashi ran through his own set of seals. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu." Since there wasn't any source of water immediately around them, the jutsu wasn't as strong but it was enough to put out the fireball.

Kiba and Akamaru were sniffing around, trying to reveal Kakashi's position.

Kakashi grinned as he traveled underground, appearing behind them. He wasn't sure who was who, but this would suck for either one. "Hidden Leaf Style: One Thousand Years of Pain." Kakashi yelled, bringing his hands up towards an unlucky person's rear, shoving his bony fingers into someone's butt, launching them in the air.

A poof of smoke revealed it to be Akamaru who received the attack. Akamaru didn't move after that, instead chose to lay on the ground dramatically, damning the silver haired jounin and promising to bite him later.

"Did you just shove your fingers into Akamaru's butt?" Kiba asked Kakashi angrily, who decided it was the best place to let out a stream of giggles.

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba yelled, launching himself at Kakashi, spinning fast enough to look like a small tycoon was headed towards Kakashi.

Kakashi looked at the ground where Naruto used to be. "A shadow clone…. When, I never saw him go through the seal." Kakashi murmured, wondering how bad he had underestimated his sensei's son.

Before he could continue thinking, someone's fingers were rudely shoved into his butt, launching his horrified body up a few feet. "How?" Kakashi asked.

"Since you were late, I sent shadow clones to hang around the area, and when you used that Doton jutsu I kawarimied with one of them and then used the Inner Decapitation Jutsu to creep up on you. I saw what you did to Akamaru and thought it'd be fun to get you back." Naruto explained.

"Sasuke and Kiba, I want you to sit down for this one." Kakashi ordered, and the two complied, Kiba hurrying over to Akamaru's prone body.

"He traumatized him." Kiba said grimacing.

"This one's personal. Let's see how good you really are otouto." Kakashi said, pulling up his hitai-ate and revealing his own Sharingan.

"I thought you'd never show it, niisan." Naruto said, mocking the jounin. Sending a flare of chakra to his own eyes, he activated his own Sharingan as well. The two charged, kunai in hand, ready to kill each other.

"Naruto!"

"Kakashi!"

The two screamed out each other's names in anger, and kunais clashed. The real battle had begun.

AN: Let me know what you thought. Please review. Okay for pairings, here's the deal, it won't happen for a bit, there's a few more important things the story's going to touch before we get to the actually romance. But I want your opinion, because I'll be taking it into consideration when I do the pairings.

For Naruto:

Ino

Temari

Yugito

Sakura

Konan

For Sasuke:

Ino

Sakura

Hinata

Karin

Let me know what you want the pairings to be. I promise I'll take the voting into serious consideration as I go through the story.


	4. Just a Genin

Requiem of a Demon

Requiem of a Demon

Chapter 4: Just a Genin

Disclaimer: Sorry but I don't own Naruto.

A/N: I'm not one to rant, and I'm not gonna stoop to a coward's level. If you're reading this you know who you are. The summary to the fic says Strong Naruto, get over it. If you didn't wanna read a fic in which Naruto was strong and smart, you shouldn't have picked this one. Please don't be an idiot, you only embarrass yourself when you do such stupid things. And if you wanna insult someone's fanfic and call it garbage, please leave an email address so the author's themselves can reply to you, you dumb fuck and not post it up on their fic. On a not so aggravating note, to the other's, thank you for receiving this humble fic so greatly. The amount of reviews I've received for this is just astonishing for a small time author like myself. Please don't let my reply to said 'idiot' discourage you from reading the fic. I encourage constructive criticism and all that, but I can't stand cowards who love to discourage new writers. So if you can't stand this fic, stop reading, but don't discourage me as a writer, especially if you can't write yourself.

I

Konohagakure

Training Field 7

Kunais clashed leaving a resonating ping as metal grinded against metal. Eyebrows furrowed, Naruto tried to back up Kakashi with brute strength. The act in itself was enough to make Kakashi giggle and crinkle his eyes into another one of his annoying eye smiles. Naruto back flipped, shooting his foot out to kick the hand holding the kunai, knocking Kakashi's kunai in the air, but leaving himself vulnerable as Kakashi punched him in his back, sending Naruto stumbling into the grass.

"That wasn't too bad, _otouto…_" Kakashi said mockingly. Naruto growled at him, reaching into his holster and launching another shuriken at the masked nin. The shuriken whizzed in the air and nearly grazed Kakashi's neck.

Naruto sprinted forward again, knowing he didn't have a chance against the jounin. He was a genin after all, despite the small advantages he might have if he used in his Sharingan, or even the knowledge he gained from Itachi, he was taken on Kakashi. Haruno Zaku had been easy enough, he had been a retired jounin, rusty, and blinded by anger, but Kakashi was a well known nin, to the extent of being listed as an A-ranked nin in Iwagakure's Bingo Book.

Not to mention a student of his father.

Taijutsu wouldn't be an option, even if he could catch him off guard, Kakashi was way to fast, taunting him by not even using his Sharingan.

Neither would Naruto.

Kakashi launched himself at Naruto, kunai in hand. The boy's eyes widened in fear, though not much and deftly ducked each swing of the kunai that Kakashi through at him. Ducking through a kunai aimed at his face, Naruto formed a plan. It was a ridiculous one that he was sure wouldn't work, but perhaps it would be enough to stall for time.

Kakashi swing again and Naruto ducked, but Kakashi used his momentum to send his left foot shooting into Naruto's chest, sending him crashing into a tree.

Naruto quickly sprung up to his feet and pulled a scroll out of his pocket, biting his thumb and swiping the bloody digit against the parchment, streaking the blood across the whole way. There was a poof of smoke and Naruto was holding two Windmill Shuriken. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu." Naruto whispered, launching the two of them.

Kakashi's eyes widened, and pulled out two kunai and launched them as well. The kunais hit both shurikens and sent them spinning into a different direction. Kakashi gasped as a third shuriken popped out from underneath the second one and was heading for his midsection, ready to pin him to the tree.

'He used a kage shuriken, that sneaky…' Kakashi on instinct jumped in the air to dodge and avoided the shuriken only to get pulled back against a tree.

Kakashi frowned in confusion. 'What the fuck?' Kakashi thought, wondering what exactly was holding him to the tree.

On the other end Naruto stood confidently holding the end of a lengthy bit of trap wire. Quickly running throw a set of hand seals, he yelled out, "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu." Breathing a stream of fire that ran through the wire and headed towards Kakashi at fast speeds.

Without thinking, Kakashi quickly substituted himself with a log, disappearing from sight to assess the genin.

Naruto in anger sent a flare of chakra to his eyes and activated the Sharingan. If Kakashi didn't want to use his, then it would be his own fault. Two tomoes spinning, Naruto looked at the area that Kakashi had been tied up at.

If Kakashi wanted to hide, then fuck it, he would too.

Disappearing from sight using the shunshin, he assessed the situation. 'What to do?' Naruto thought. Suddenly a smile lit his face. 'Why the hell didn't I think of that?'

Putting his hand in the form of one seal, Naruto yelled out, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Suddenly the area was littered with fully functioning Naruto's. Two hundred to be exact.

"Find him." Naruto ordered, sending all his clothes to search the area.

Kakashi winced at the sight of all the Narutos. He inwardly groaned, 'Kuso, I was just about to read.' He thought as he placed his favorite book back in his pocket.

II

Tenten watched her teammates spar from the distance. She had her brow raised in annoyance, and rather than bitch, she walked over to her sensei. "Kurenai-sensei, how about you teach me another jutsu?" She asked, avoiding a shuriken Lee had blocked, sending it flying in her direction accidentally.

"You want me to teach you another jutsu?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah, I learned the Kage Shuriken, and Kage Shuriken Bunshin, but all my jutsus are based on weapons. If I run into an elemental user or something, I might not come back alive. I need to vary my jutsus a bit to protect Lee and Neji. Both are limited to their taijutsu, Lee because he can't use anything else and Neji because it's frowned upon for the Hyuugas to learn anything but the Jyuuken." Tenten pointed out.

Kurenai pondered about it for a second. "You're right you know. I should do the same myself, I do rely on genjutsu too much." Sensei and student headed off to another sector of the training field to train some more.

Lee ducked a kunai Neji sent his way, and charged at him, charging up chakra in his fist. Neji seen the attack and smiled smugly. "You're in within my field of divination." Neji said, ducking the blow and striking Lee across the thigh, causing him to stumble, but not before receiving a blow to the shoulder. Though Neji could have injured him worse doing the Jyuuken and closing the tenketsus, he refrained from it and settled for brute force.

Lee flew backwards, chakra pouring into his feet to stop, feet digging into the dirt as he finally stopped. He stared at his eternal rival in anger. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't beat the Hyuuga prodigy.

Since the academy, he was always called dead last, and a loser, because he couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and he didn't have the greatest taijutsu. After passing a special academy test, he spent all his time trying to prove that he could be a capable ninja using only taijutsu. Hours he spent training until he body was spent and couldn't continue, yet it seemed that God favored prodigy over a hard worker.

It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't beat Hyuuga Neji. His sensei couldn't really help him, she was mainly a genjutsu user and pretty weak in taijutsu. It didn't stop him from trying though. He would prove to the world that he, Rock Lee would be a capable ninja and the greatest taijutsu user in all of the Five Great Nations.

There would be no one better than Rock Lee. Not even Hyuuga Neji.

Lee charged again and jumped at Neji, changing directions in midair and aiming a spinning wheel kick at Neji who blocked it with his forearm and attempted to shove Lee back. Lee spun in midair and used the momentum to slam his other foot in Neji's face. Neji's concentration scattered for a second as the kick jarred him, his hands flailing for a second.

A second too late.

Lee landed and swung his arm up and uppercutted him. Lee jumped forward into a handstand and began kicking Neji in the face, hard, each kick bruising and busting him up, Lee moving forward using his hands as legs.

'And if I cannot use ninjutsu, then I will use kenjutsu like Tenten.' Lee swore in his mind.

Before he could mount any offense, Neji landed a blow to his back. "I didn't want to use this, but perhaps fate chose this time to reveal my new technique." Neji spoke and suddenly began to spin in a circle, chakra exploding from all 361 tenketsus to form a spinning chakra barrier in the shape of a dome. "Kaiten!" Neji yelled and the attack was enough to send Lee into a tree, unconscious.

Over to the left a couple of yards, Tenten was working on the new jutsu, Kurenai was teaching. It was draining her chakra in mass amounts with each attempt. Despite the fact that she considered herself a decent kunoichi, especially for a genin, her chakra reserves were not enough to repeated use the jutsu.

Perhaps by the chuunin exams, she'd be better off.

She still had four months.

III

Nara Shikamaru was lazy.

Everyone knew that.

Except Maito Gai.

"Come on, Shikamaru. Train until you're full of the springtime of youth!" Gai complained, hovering over Shikamaru like a hawk. Shikamaru was on the floor, picking himself up for another set of pushups, one handed at that, and he was royally pissed off.

"Kuso. The springtime of youth seems too troublesome if you ask me." Nara drawled lazily, doing another set of 25.

"I'm not asking. Now let the youth explode, perhaps if you wore my youthful training suit, you'd get even stronger." Gai said, almost as an afterthought.

"I'm not wearing that green horrid suit. That is way too troublesome, what a drag." Shikamaru complained, standing up and dusting himself off.

Gai then walked over to Ino who was screaming, complaining about the dirt in her hair. "Are we almost done, sensei? I need to wash up so I can see Naruto-kun." Ino asked, pushing out another 20 sit-ups.

"This Naruto, is he brimming with…"

"Could you shut up about youthfulness Gai-sensei?" Ino cried out, standing up and trying to brush the dirt out of her hair.

'That was very unyouthful Ino-san." Gai said, landing to his knees, crying out an ungodly amount of tears, using some sort of genjutsu for a drab background.

Chouji apparently had enough of his training and was lying against a tree, hand reaching into his bag of potato chips. Eyes flaming with youth, Gai rushed over and kicked the bag out of his hands, sending it flying up into the sky anime style.

Chouji stood up and faced Gai-sensei, his eyes brimming with fire. "Did you just kick my tasty snack into the air, sensei?" he asked.

"It is unyouthful for you to eat so much, perhaps if you'd train, then you wouldn't be so…" Before Gai could finish his sentence, Ino covered his mouth. Unlike Gai, she knew how angry Chouji got when people commented on his weight.

"What were you about to say?" Chouji demanded, leaking a small bit of killer intent.

"Nothing Chouji. Sensei was just being troublesome again." Shikamaru spoke, ready to sneak out of training and sit in his favorite spot and go cloud gazing again.

"Can I go see Naruto now?" Ino demanded shrilly, making Shikamaru wince.

"Go see him, but keep it youthful Ino-san." Gai exclaimed and turned his head back to Chouji and Shikamaru.

"You guys have fun, but tomorrow, get ready to burn with the power of youth!" Gai demanded.

"Yosh…" Shikamaru said dramatically.

"The fire is burning in you more and more with each day, Shikamaru-kun!"

"Shut it already…"

IV

"I'm gonna kill him." Sakura shouted, slamming a chakra enhanced fist into the tree bark, leaving a distinctive crunch as the wood splintered, bits flying around. Salty tears ran down the girl's face. "He killed my father. That son of a bitch." Jumping in the air, she landed a vicious kick to the tree, bruising her shins in the process.

Limping a bit, she stood up and began again. She been trying to create a new technique, on of her own, but she didn't have the chakra for it yet. She had been practicing tree climbing and water walking, avoiding her team as much as possible. She pretty much isolated herself from everyone.

Her sensei Mitarashi Anko didn't think it was time to start taking D-ranked missions. They just passed the bell test today and were gonna start taking missions in two days.

"Sakura." Speak of the devil. Sakura found her training session interrupted by Anko.

"Yes sensei?" Sakura said politely, landing another vicious kick to the tree.

"Are you okay?" Anko asked, her face full of concern.

"Yeah. I'm just training, making sure I'm not some weak kunoichi. I kind of want to be strong, like you are sensei." Sakura stated.

"Why do you train so hard?" Anko asked.

"Because I'm going to avenge my father's death, I will kill the guy who killed my father. I'm at a huge disadvantage, not only does he use the Sharingan, but his chakra pools are enormous according to Iruka sensei, so in order to beat him, I need to be stronger." Sakura growled out.

"I understand, more than you think. But hate only begets hate, and that my student leads to a path of evil." Anko explained, her trench coat billowing in the wind, exposing her fishnet top.

"Perhaps it's worth it."

"It's not. Believe me. I take it you want to kill Uzumaki Naruto?" Anko pointed out.

"Yes sensei." Sakura said, stopping her training and turning around to face her teacher. "I want to kill him."

"Have you ever tried walking in his shoes?" Anko asked. Sakura shook her head. "As far as I've known the boy, he's been beaten and hated. He's been refused service, unable to eat, unable to buy decent clothes or even shinobi tools. And on his ninth birthday, he was nearly killed by villagers and some ANBU, taking from him his eyesight. If your father attacked him, perhaps Naruto was fed up and killed him in self defense." Anko stated.

Sakura lowered her glare. "I don't care. He killed my father, and I'll never forgive him for it."

"I'm not asking you to forgive him. But the attempt of physical harm on a Konohagakure shinobi and clan leader out of self defense is punishable by death. Training to avenge your father will make you stronger, but not strong enough. Train to protect your loved ones, and perhaps you'll be stronger than you'll ever know."

Sakura stared at her sensei for a second and let her words sink in. Was killing Naruto worth dying herself?

It wasn't.

But she'd wait, she'd wait for him to slip up, and then she'd attack.

V

Naruto's brain processed the information his shadow clones gave him and he set off, knowing exactly where Kakashi's position was. Charging in, he shot up a set of kunai's into the trees, forcing Kakashi to move out of the way. Once Kakashi dodged the kunai, Naruto ran up the tree and aimed a kick to his face which Kakashi blocked, knocking him back in the air.

Kakashi launched his own set of kunai, which Naruto blocked expertly. Both shinobi landed on the ground and charged once more, before landing into some taijutsu. Kakashi kneed Naruto in the gut and went to elbow him in the back but a poof of smoke caught him in the face. Just as he turned around, Naruto landed a punch to his stomach, and kicked him up into the air, jumping up after him. Kakashi ran through a set of handseals, ready to blast Naruto back down, but Naruto kawarimied with a clone above him and landed a kick to Kakashi's back, sending the two of them crashing back down.

A poof of smoke revealed that Kakashi had just been another kage bunshin. 'Fuck.' Was the only thought Naruto afforded as he was rocked sideways with the jounin's fist. Naruto flew backwards and crashed hard into the dirt.

Sasuke and Kiba looked bored from the sidelines. "They need to end this spar soon." Kiba complained. Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto stood up in anger and formed a single seal. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." he yelled out and another hundred Naruto's popped into existence. The clones charged in and swarmed Kakashi, who quickly decimated them.

The real Naruto stood away from the massacre, a calculating look on his face. Kakashi stared and saw that he had two kunai in his hand, one a standard kunai, and the other, well the other frightened Kakashi.

"He can't know the Hiriashin, he's only twelve." Kakashi muttered under his breath.

In Naruto's hand was a three pronged kunai with a seal wrapped around it. Naruto grinned and launched the standard kunai at Kakashi, who merely sidestepped it. Kakashi's sole focus was on the kunai. Naruto launched it at Kakashi who reacted and launched his own kunai to block it, and sent it away.

Naruto's smirk never left his face.

Suddenly another Naruto appeared behind Kakashi and held a kunai to his neck. "I win." Naruto said, a gleeful look on his face.

"Not really." Kakashi said, poofing out of existence.

"Kuso." Naruto shouted.

Kakashi appeared next to him and reached into his pouch to pull out his Icha Icha book. "Spar's over Naruto. Though I do have to commend your ingenious attack. You sent a bunch of clones to jump me and distract me while two stuck behind and henged into the kunais. You don't know the Hiriashin, but you made me think you did and launched the normal kunai at me. I had been so focused on the other one that I didn't see the clone sneaking up on me until it was too late."

"How did you figure it out?" Naruto asked.

"I am a jounin, baka. Well, I was your father's student so I saw the actual seals that go on the kunai and when I saw yours right before you launched it and saw it was just a bunch of scribble on it."

"Whatever." Naruto pouted and begin heading back to his teammates.

Kakashi walked up to the three of them, holding three pieces of paper. "These pieces of papers are made out of a chakra tree and will tell us what elemental affinity you have." Kakashi explained, passing the three of them out.

"What do you mean by elemental affinity?" Kiba asked.

"What element you are most in tune with. For example if you're a lightning type, Raiton jutsus are much easier to perform then others." Kakashi explained and Kiba nodded. "I normally wouldn't do this, I'd start you off with tree climbing and water walking, but there's some bad things brewing, and I need you to be prepared, you are the genin Heavy Assault Squadron, and we'll be taking a lot of C-Ranked and possibly B-ranked missions in the future when you become Chuunin, and you have to be fully prepared for what could be happening."

"What could be happening sensei?" Naruto asked.

"War. It's not pretty either, I fought along the Yondaime against Iwagakure and I was just turned twelve. By thirteen I was a jounin, and I need to make full fledged ninja out of you."

"Why makes you think a war will break out?" Sasuke asked.

"I took a few S-ranked missions and something is going on. There was Sunagakure making a piece treaty with a new village called Otogakure, and no one knows who their Kage is. Amegakure is still in civil war and Kumo and Iwa are in the middle of a piece treaty, and those two nations are our biggest enemies." Kakashi explained.

"So how do we find out what our affinities are?" Naruto asked.

"You basically pump chakra into the paper and the paper will react. If it's earth it'll dissolve into dust. If it's fire, it'll smoke and burn. If it's water the paper will damper, if its wind it'll slice in half. And if it's lightning, it'll emit sparks."

Kiba began pumping chakra into his paper and it sliced in half. "So that means I'm a wind user, right?" Kakashi nodded and signaled for Sasuke to go. Sasuke began channeling his chakra into the paper. Suddenly the paper began to smolder and smoke, burning into ash.

"Fire type, should have figured, you're an Uchiha after all." Kakashi said, his face expressionless.

Naruto then began pouring his chakra into the paper and it suddenly began emitting sparks, causing him to drop it.

"Lightning…I never would have figured…" Kakashi stated, crinkling his eyes into his stupid eye smile.

"So now that we know our elemental affinities, what next?" Kiba asked, rubbing Akamaru's head affectionately.

"I'm going to teach you jutsus for them. I'm a lightning type, but since I have the Sharingan I've copied over a thousand jutsus that will help you out. I'll teach you a C-ranked, a B-ranked, and then an A-ranked assassination jutsu." Kakashi explained.

"Assassination jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, we are in the business of killing. What part of Heavy Assault Squadron don't you get, otouto?' Kakashi asked, ruffling Naruto's hair, who began leaking killer intent.

"I know. I just didn't understand what you meant at first." Naruto explained, slapping Kakashi's hand away.

"Well yeah, as ninjas we have to employ all forms of jutsus to attack an enemy. While it'd be better to sneak up on people and slit their throats with a kunai, sometimes you end up in a battle with them, where you have to resort to your who repertoire of techniques to walk out alive. Most E-ranked to C-ranked jutsus hurt an opponent, but B and A ranked are usually for assassinations. I will teach you a C-ranked attack jutsu, a B-rank defensive one and an A-ranked assassination jutsu. The A-ranks I teach you aren't meant to be flashing around, use them only when you're going to kill someone, or to protect a precious person." Kakashi explained.

"So the A-ranks are like a last resort and assassination technique?" Kiba asked.

"Yes. Mainly because there's gonna be a Sharingan user or someone who can break your technique down and duplicate it and then use it against you."

Naruto and Sasuke snickered at the jab at the Sharingan users.

"Ne, Kaka-sensei, you almost sound like a hypocrite, owner of a thousand techniques." Naruto spoke, causing Kiba to snicker.

Raising a wary eyebrow at the boy, Kakashi chose to ignore him. "Eventually I want you guess to learn elemental manipulation and create your own techniques." Kakashi continued. "Creating your own techniques can be helpful especially if you use them cautiously, it gives you a small advantage over an enemy."

"What about techniques that haven't seen in a while. If someone were to recreate them, that'd be an advantage wouldn't it?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi's eye narrowed at him. "Give us an example, Naruto?'

"The Hiriashin no Jutsu, a technique exclusive to the Yondaime Hokage." Naruto pointed out.

"You aren't really going to try to recreate that technique are you?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, I am." Naruto stated.

"But the scrolls on how the Yondaime made the technique were lost." Kakashi exclaimed.

Naruto shrugged carelessly.

"What's the Hiriashin?" Kiba asked.

"It's a jutsu exclusive to the Yondaime. It allowed him to instantly teleport to a location with a seal that almost summoned him to that spot." Kakashi explained. Kiba looked over at Naruto, clearly impressed.

"So what techniques are you going to teach us?" Sasuke asked, finally speaking up.

"Well for Kiba I'm going to teach him Futon: Great Wind Release and Futon: Wind Bullet. Great Wind Release simply causes the user to channel large amounts of wind around their body forcing away anything that gets to close and Wind Bullet is a jutsu that blows a concentrated ball of chakra that is fired from the mouth and hits an opponent from a distance. I don't know any A-ranked techniques so you have to ask Sarutobi Asuma.

"For you Sasuke I'm going to teach you Katon: Flamethrower, Katon: Wall of Fire and Katon: Phoenix Dragon jutsu." Sasuke smirked, thinking of the possibilities. "Flamethrower basically blows a continuously amount of fire at an opponent, Wall of Fire erupts a large barrier of fire for protection and Phoenix Dragon is your assassination technique.

"For you Naruto, I'm going to teach you Raiton: Shockwave, Raiton: Spark, and lastly my own original technique, the Chidori. Shockwave basically launches a currently of lightning on the ground and doesn't stop until it connects with a conductor. Spark is a defensive jutsu that allows you to emit lightning chakra around you to stop any up close attacks. Chidori is my own original attack, it's an A-rank assassination technique that has a few drawbacks." Kakashi explained.

"What drawbacks, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"You can overcome them with the Sharingan, well most of them. The biggest one is that as you charge at the opponent it emits a shrill noise, like a thousand birds chirping, hence the name. To use the technique, you have to have a ridiculous amount of speed and agility, and without the Sharingan the technique is virtuously useless." Kakashi said, and seeing Naruto's confusion, he continued. "At the speed you're moving when you use this causes almost a tunnel like vision that doesn't allow you to see counterattacks."

"But with the Sharingan, that point is nullified." Naruto finished.

"Yes." Kakashi said, nodding. "In two days we'll be starting D-ranked missions and I'll train you afterwards, teaching each of you how to use your techniques, we'll start with the C-ranked, then B-ranked, and finally the A-ranked assassination ones. But you'll have to wait a bit for those, until I deem you ready." Kakashi said, much to Team Seven's displeasure.

"Damn, I was hoping to learn Chidori today." Naruto pouted uncharacteristically, showing more emotion then he had in a while.

Kakashi grinned, ruffling the boy's hair again.

"You aren't going to play favorites are you, Kaka-baka?" Naruto asked. Kakashi crinkled his eyes again in response.

"Never Naruto. Anyways, Team Seven meet me here tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning." Kakashi ordered, and Naruto glared at him.

"I'm showing up at ten then." Sasuke said, earning him a soft slap to the back of the head from Kakashi.

Kiba waved to his sensei and headed back to the Inuzuka district, he would train with Akamaru for a bit. Seconds Kakashi disappeared using the Shunshin. Naruto turned to Sasuke with an evil grin. "So what's next Uchiha?" Naruto asked.

"Shut it dobe. How about we get something to eat?" Sasuke asked.

"Ramen?" Naruto asked, giving Sasuke the Puppy Eyes no Jutsu.

"Hn… I hope you get fat, that'll be a new one for the ages, a Hokage the size of an Akimichi. You'll become the scapegoat in a sense, Iruka sensei will be like, 'Watch out kiddies, the Hokage has an ultimate finisher, he farts in people's faces, one hit knockout.'" Sasuke imitated Iruka's voice.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

"And you'd be the poster boy for emo's. Let's all be great like Uchiha Sasuke, all we have to do is brood and cry in dark corners and say two worded sentences. Slit your wrists for a hundred points, one thousand if you're as gay as him. He's the Yaoikage, leader of Yaoigakure."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow at him. "Did you just go there?" he asked, pushing his best friend.

"Yeah I did, Sas_uke_. It's not like I see you out there saying more than 'hn' to any of your fangirls." Naruto replied.

"Oh yeah and what about you huh?" Sasuke asked.

"Hey I took Hinata and Ino on a date."

"To fucking Ichiraku's man. What are you going to be in a couple of years, a Hokage. Nah, more like the forty year old virgin. Seriously, if I actually took one of those silly girls out on a date, it wouldn't be Ichiraku, dobe." Sasuke said, smirking.

"Of course you wouldn't. You'd take them to your basement and show them your box of shounen-ai porno that you think I don't know about. Perhaps you'll start a book, Uchiha's Sasuke's Yaoi Yaoi Paradise." Naruto snapped back.

"I'm not gay…" Sasuke whined.

"Hn. Did you say something?" Naruto asked coolly. Bad timing, Sasuke's eyes filled up with fire as he stared at his adopted brother.

"So whatever did happen on the date with Hinata?" Sasuke asked, as they headed towards Shashua, a pretty good restaurant in Konoha. They served a variety of things, and the good thing was that it was healthy and tasty.

"It was weird. She didn't talk much and stared at me throughout the whole day with those creepy eyes of hers. I told her that she needed to get better self confidence, that I hated weak kunoichi and all, and her eyes watered up and stuff. I just gave a little bit of advice and she started crying and stuff. Troublesome girl."

"You're an idiot. Hinata worships the ground you walk on Uzumaki and you tell her that. Not to mention her dads a teme who tells her she's weak and doesn't train her properly. You just added to her low self esteem, good going baka." Sasuke pointed out. "What about Ino?"

Naruto blushed for a second.

Sasuke stared at him, now completely curious.

"Ino's cool, I guess. Definitely fan girl material, but she is hot as hell. I'm only twelve and I know that much. We went to Ichiraku's and stuff, hung out for a bit and talked, and before we left, she kissed me. It was weird…"

"Weird?" Sasuke asked, entering Shashua and asking for a table for two.

"Well the kiss was all wet. It was like she was trying to suck my face off." Naruto exclaimed and Sasuke laughed.

Sasuke shook his head.

"So what about you and Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"There is no me and Sakura. She never stops asking me out and she cries when I tell her no. I told her to focus on training rather than me and it's like I can't past that big ass forehead of hers." Sasuke said, clearly frustrated.

The two sat down and ordered some food. Yakisoba for Naruto with some shrimp fried rice and some red bean soup for Sasuke.

"Naruto!"

"Sasuke!"

Ino and Sakura walked into Shashua, rushing over to their table. After shooting a glare at Naruto, Sakura sat down next to Sasuke and Ino wrapped her arms around Naruto, sliding in next to him.

"You aren't planning on poisoning my food are you Haruno-san?" Naruto asked, eyeing her carefully.

"No, I still hate you though." Sakura whispered, turning to Sasuke. "Did you miss me Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in response.

Ino curled up next to Naruto, and Naruto inhaled a mixture of vanilla and lavender. Naruto stared at Sakura. "Sakura-san, I'm honestly sorry for you. I didn't know it was your father and he was trying to kill me and I just reacted. I'm not sorry for him, but I'm sorry for what it's doing to you. I'm not going to ask for forgiveness, nor for you to forget, but had it been a reversal of roles, you'd done the same." Naruto pointed out.

Sakura stared at him for a few seconds. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"I missed you Naruto-kun." Ino said, looking up at Naruto's face hopefully. He honestly didn't have the balls to be a dick to her. Here she was curled up against him, smelling really good and asking for crumbs. Why be a dick to her? He couldn't deny that he liked her, even if it was just little bit.

Naruto leaned his head down and captured Ino's lips with his own. Her soft lips were compliant and she darted her tongue into his mouth, soft hands gripping on his arm. This time, the kiss was not all sloppy, just full of passion on both parts. Even if he didn't like her that much, he couldn't deny the fact that as he kissed her, he had this soft, tickling club in his gut.

He could deal with it for a bit.

AN: The fic prolly won't be a harem, but I want to throw tidbits to fans of different pairings. Let me know what you thought. Sorry it took so long to get another chapter up, but I had to go to court as a witness to a shootout and it took all week so I made up for it by working for eight hours on this one until I wrote something I liked. Until next time friends.


	5. The Real Demon

Requiem of a Demon

Requiem of a Demon

Chapter Five: The Real Demon

Disclaimer: I never have, and never will own Naruto. If you thought there was a chance I might have owned it, I should get Akamaru to pee on you R. Kelly style.

Author's Note: Thank you for all of the people who took time to review and add the fic to their alerts and all that rot.

I

Thanks to some help from Sasuke and Ino, Naruto had managed to get past the chuunins on guard and into the Hokage's office. There was a reason the blonde genin was in here, a big one in fact, a vague memory had popped up during his training with Kakashi, almost urging him to knock the old man Hokage out and nick the Forbidden Scroll. He had already mastered the C-ranked Raiton: Dageki Nami and the B-ranked Raiton: Raikou Hibana no Jutsu.

He still had a bit of trouble getting the basics of the Chidori, much to Kakashi's surprise, but not him. With the other jutsus, he pretty much guessed a bit on how much chakra to put into them, but with the Chidori, that was virtually next to impossible. Too little chakra and the lightning would sizzle and then disappear, too much chakra and the attack blew up in his face.

So the last couple of weeks he had been working on chakra control by walking up trees and walking on water. Weeks of chakra control in the hopes that it'd be enough to be fully able to harness the lightning chakra and use the Chidori. Spatial Recompisition was no real trouble for him, but the nature manipulation was a whole other story. Refining his chakra into lightning took so much control and focus that it seemed out of his grasp.

So to make up for it, he planned on stealing some techniques off the Forbidden Scroll, hoping there was something from his father left behind for him. Dammit, he was the Yondaime's son, Minato must of left some sort of contingency plan for him, incase some like this were to happen. Didn't he want his son to be stronger than he ever was?

He needed that power…

Konoha would never respect nor accept him without it.

And for their acceptance, he'd sell his soul if he had to.

"Hokage-jijisan!" Naruto shouted out to him, reminding the Sandaime of the old Naruto. The one that had existed before he'd been tainted by Uchiha Itachi. Whether it was intentional or not, Itachi had corrupted the boy by giving him the eyes of Shishui. God knows what the Sandaime would give up just to have the old Naruto back.

A smiling baka running around with big boasts of becoming Hokage in that ridiculous jumpsuit of his.

But perhaps his corruption wasn't Itachi's fault. It had been the villagers and shinobi even who had robbed the boy of his sight, treated him like a leper and like a burden, despite the fact that he was the one person who held back the Kyuubi, stopping them from dying.

Staring at the boy cautiously, the old man puffed on his pipe, inhaling the sweet scent of the tobacco before blowing it out, watching as it curled around his form. "Yes Naruto-kun." The aged Hokage said gently, hoping not to do something that would set the boy off.

"Did the Yondaime ever leave me anything? Any scrolls, any money, or something that make my existence a little more bearable. Surely he must have foreseen the villager's treatment of me?" Naruto replied, his curious jade eyes closing for a second, making him look almost angelic, instead of a twelve year old boy who already took the life of a retired leaf Nin.

The Sandaime motioned for the boy to get closer, stretching out his arm and placing his hand on the genin's head. Naruto's eyes shot wide open at the open display of affection, and gave the Hokage an aged look, one that didn't suit him whatsoever.

Ruffling the boy's blond locks gently, the withered old man clasped his hands around the boy, stifling him in a hug. "Forgive me Naruto, forgive me for everything." Bitter tears sprang to the Hokage's eyes, he knew he had failed Naruto, much like he had Jiraiya. Allowing the momentary lapse of weakness, the Sandaime placed a kiss on Naruto's forehead. "Forgive me." he begged in a tone that didn't become him.

Naruto paused, closing his eyes again in a hurry, he needed to close off the tears that threatened to spill, and allowed himself to be held. It'd be so long since he had been shown any affection to, the Sandaime Hokage had always resembled some sort of family to him, and as he let the withered old man hug him, Naruto couldn't help but feel regret, and deep down he knew he forgave him. His heart threatened to burst out of his chest, as it began thumping quickly in his chest. "I forgive you old man." Naruto whispered.

The Sandaime released the genin and stared into his sparkling jade eyes, unique in their own sense, eyes that belonged to a dead man. "He did. But he left specific instructions for you not to see until you were a jounin or eighteen." The Sandaime winced, hoping the boy didn't take it too hard.

Naruto paused for a second, blank eyes like a wax statue. "Hai, Hokage-sama. If those are my otousan's wishes, then so be it." Naruto responded.

A look of haughty defiance crossed his face before it was wiped clean. "If you want though I can teach you a few jutsus when I get off, you can copy them with your Sharingan." the Sandaime offered as penance.

"No. The best jutsus are mastered, never copied. I will wait with you until you get off, and then you can show me, but I'm not copying them, you have me confused with Kakashi." Naruto replied smirking.

To the say the Sandaime was surprised was an understatement.

"Hai, don't be too hard on your sensei, the copying abilities of the Sharingan are subconscious and subliminal. He is trying you know, to make up for the last twelve years. He honestly didn't know." the Sandaime said, ruffling Naruto's hair again.

Naruto nodded and took a seat next to the Sandaime, and an hour later, the two left to train.

II

Naruto was tired, bone dead tired to be exact. All he wanted was to get a few bowls of some hot miso ramen and then jump into his bed and ready for the next amount of pointless chores called D-ranked missions. It's been nearly two months of doing them and Team Seven already had a stellar record of 46 missions passed, and none failed. Hopefully they got a juicy C or B ranked mission soon, Naruto was itching for a fight.

Just not right now.

The blond black clad boy began walking to his favorite restaurant, Ichiraku's Ramen. Surprisingly enough, after giving the owner Teuchi a small wave, he saw his academy sensei Iruka sitting alone in a booth. "Evening Iruka-sensei." Naruto said, giving the chuunin an honest smile.

Iruka was about to sneer at the boy, but stopped himself. Perhaps the Hokage was right about him, that there was more to him than meets the eye. "Hey Naruto-kun, do you want to seat and eat with me?" Iruka offered.

Naruto looked taken back by the offer but nodded in compliance. Taking long strides, he walked over to Iruka's table and sat across from him. "You want me to eat with you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, is it that strange?" Iruka replied.

"Yeah, it never seemed like you really liked me during the academy years you know. I was far from stupid, even if I didn't get the highest grades." Naruto clarified, grabbing the bowl of ramen Ayame held out for him. For a split second, Naruto allowed himself to capture her entire beauty, before cursing himself and turning away.

Ayame blushed as Naruto's eyes averted away from her form as if embarrassed. Had he been staring?

Blushing furiously, he lowered his hand down to the ramen, and began to dig the fork in, spinning it around in the broth and wrapping the fork around the noodles and bringing it up to his mouth. After chewing the delicious noodles for a bit, he swallowed and looked into Iruka's surprised brown eyes.

"I'm sorry if I was a dick to you Naruto."

"It's okay, I wasn't expecting you to be any different from everybody else. I'm sorry about your parents though, so I understand your uneasiness around me." Naruto explained.

The scarred chuunin gave him a blank look before replying, "I should have been better, simply because I know what it's like to be alone, to not have parents. But I was stuck too deep in my hatred of the Kyuubi that like the villagers, I pretty much passed it down on you, even if it was through mocking and jeering in the academy. Frankly, as soon as you came in I was about to glare at you when I started thinking about what Hokage-sama said to me and he was right. You are different than what many believe you to be, even now." Iruka responded.

A few emotions flickered through Naruto's face before he brushed them away casually. "It's alright, I understand why things were like they were. I probably didn't help much either with everything I did." Naruto said, looking crestfallen. "Though you could make it up by paying for my ramen."

Iruka nodded. "That sounds agreeable."

"Yatta!" Naruto cheered. "Ten more bowls please!" He yelled towards Ayame.

Iruka sweat dropped, before his face fell on the table with a thud.

III

"Team Seven you are assigned to a D-ranked mission. Your mission is to search and capture Tora the Daimyo's cat…"

"Ne! How many more times do we have to search for that baka cat? If I have to find that teme it's going to be search and destroy. Old man, we've cranked out forty six missions in nearly two months, and all of them are chores. I'm tired of searching for that cat, I don't blame him for running away, I'd run away to if I had to go back home to that fat bitch!" Naruto swore.

"Naruto." The aging Hokage said, puffing on his pipe to disguise his laughter.

"My apologies Hokage-sama." Naruto said, his head hung down.

"It's alright, I once was a genin myself you know. If you wanted a higher ranked mission you should have told us so." The Hokage reprimanded.

"Yosh, Lord Hokage I want an A-ranked mission." Naruto demanded and the rest of Team Seven face faulted.

"I was thinking more like C-ranked, Naruto-kun." The Sandaime clarified.

"What's the mission Hokage-sama?" Kiba asked.

"You are to protect a bridge builder by the name of Tazuna. Escort him back to Nami no Kuni and protect him until he finishes the bridge that he's working on. I can't stress how important this mission is to Konoha, since it would allow Nami to start their own import and export business, making us favorable in their eyes so they could do business with us. Also over the next two years they plan on starting a village in Nami called Namigakure and we'll need them as allies so for everyone's sake, you cannot fail this mission." The Sandaime stressed to them.

"Hai!" Sasuke, Kiba, Naruto, and Kakashi said simultaneously.

"In fact, here is Tazuna coming in right now." The Sandaime said, and an old man walked in, smelling sickly of alcohol.

"These guys are the ones who are going to protect me. You have to be shitting me, and look at the blonde one, he looks pretty stupid to me." Tazuna drawled, pointing his finger at Naruto.

Naruto didn't take to that well and launched a kunai at him that embedded itself directly over Tazuna's head. "Tazuna-san, I cannot stress how important it is for you not to insult Konoha shinobi. It could very well be your last mistake." Naruto growled out.

Seeing this, the Sandaime puffed his pipe once more and muttered under his breath, "Apparently Naruto doesn't get what looking favorable for a client means."

Seeing the kunai almost stab him in the head was enough to nearly sober up Tazuna. "Holy shit, the blond one's a hothead. Anyway, the rest of the bridge should only take me about two weeks, maybe three so if you don't mind, how about you pack it up and we can head out." Tazuna retorted.

Before they could head out, Kakashi slapped the back of Naruto's head. Naruto turned around, ready to strike, but Kakashi grabbed his shoulder. "You don't throw kunais at the client, otouto." He reprimanded, crinkling his eyes into a smile.

Naruto grumbled, but nodded afterwards. Scurrying out of the Hokage's Tower, Naruto ran towards his room, pulling out several storage scrolls and sealing a few sets of clothing into them. Making sure he had a full stock of shuriken and kunai before heading out towards Sasuke's room. Seeing the room was empty, he figured his roommate was out by the gates, probably waiting for Kakashi's late ass.

Mumbling something incoherently about a certain jounin, the blonde genin formed a single hand seal and disappeared in a flash of lightning, his upgraded version of the shun shin.

Minutes later, Tazuna and Team Seven began their trek to Nami no Kuni, the Land of the Waves. Since it was an escort mission, they kept quiet and moved along at a fast pace. Kiba, like usual was carrying Akamaru in his front jacket, the cute puppy keeping his eyes and nose sharp, making sure there was no enemies around. Kakashi on the other hand, trusted his team enough to pop out his infamous orange clad novel. Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand, had a hand on their kunai holster, constantly at the ready.

Akamaru begin barking as they stopped after four hours of traveling. "What it is boy?" Kiba asked, and Akamaru continued his frantic barking. Naruto saw this and walked over to Kiba and petted Akamaru's head to distill his fear. "What's wrong Kiba?" Naruto asked.

"Akamaru is saying for us to be careful, that's there is something out there. He said he noticed the smell a half hour ago and now it's been hitting him strongly. I'm noticing it now too when I focus chakra to my nose." Kiba explained.

Naruto took it in and pondered for a second. He then turned around to Kakashi, who gave him a small nod. "Tazuna-san. My comrades here are telling me that there are enemy nin somewhere around the area. We have been hired to do a C-ranked mission to escort you to Nami and protect you from thugs and bandits. When you hired us, did you know there would be nin involved?" Naruto asked, activating his two tomoed Sharingan.

"No, I didn't know."

"You are lying, these eyes do not deceive me. Why would you ask for such a mission for lowly genin like us? If we encounter any nin chuunin or above, this mission would be easily classed as an B or A-ranked mission. For now we'll stick to be, so you can either pay us the difference now or we will drop the mission, for that is our right." Naruto growled out to the drunk.

"Please you can't do that. Our village couldn't afford a B or A-ranked mission. This mission has left us poor enough as it is, if you guys abandon now, the whole country is fucked." Tazuna cried out sadly.

"You just don't get it. You could of asked the Hokage for help and he would of understood. I on the other hand, am not as sympathetic as the old fossil. We are genin, the lowest of ranks, and if we encounter shinobi of jounin caliber, we could all easily die. No wonder you were so hesitant to have us as your team." Naruto said as an afterthought.

"Please, I need your help."

Naruto looked at Kakashi with disdain, and nodded at him to take charge. "With all due respect Tazuna-san, it's not fair for us to take a higher ranked mission and then get shorted on money for it. If you want us to take the mission, you're going to have to offer us something or else we will return to Konohagakure." Kakashi said stoically, his face unrevealing of the emotions he felt inside.

"What do you want?" Tazuna begged.

Sasuke walked up to the bridge builder and gave him a cold glance. "Hn. If we take this mission, you will accept to our Hokage's terms for exports of goods. And to pay us back, the four of us will take a small chunk of stocks for the upcoming village of Namigakure. Not enough that it'll hurt the city, but enough that why you bastards get fat from the money, some of it will go to us too." Sasuke said.

'Damn I hadn't thought of that.' Naruto and Kiba thought at the same time. Kakashi couldn't help himself and let out a small giggle at the idea of it.

"That's outrageous." Tazuna cried out angrily.

Kakashi snarled and grabbed the front of Tazuna's shirt. "No, what's outrageous is that you hired three genin to fight off some enemy nin, they're straight out of the academy. I know they're good, and so am I but if you don't agree and we encounter some A or S-ranked missing nin, we're done with you." Kakashi warned him, letting go of his shirt, causing Tazuna to fall to the floor in a heap.

Tazuna weighed the possible outcomes. If this genin team didn't help him, he could easily die and the bridge would never get built, and his people would die one by one, Inari included.

"We're not asking for much, Tazuna-san. But we do need to know exactly what's going on in Nami no Kuni." Naruto offered.

"Fine, I'll agree to your conditions. Each of you will get two percent of the total income Nami makes. And as for what's going on, the problem is Gato." Tazuna replied.

Realization dawned on Kakashi's face. "Gato, as in the CEO of Gato Industries?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, basically, a year ago he showed up in Nami and stopped us from building our bridge and enslaved our people. After we completely submit to him, he wants to start his own village in Nami for his band of missing nin and samurai, getting them to export his slaves and drugs. If we don't stop him, my daughter and the females in Nami will be nothing more than sex slaves, and kids like my grandson will be used as containers for Gato's drugs, I'm sorry I lied, but please I was expecting a team of chuunin for this, I need your help." Tazuna begged.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and Kiba who both nodded. Then over to Kakashi who nodded as well. "Fine, we'll help. Exactly how much were you to pay me if I manage to kill Gato himself, I can bring his head to you for a small fee." Naruto asked.

"Half a million ryou to be paid over five years, not including what you'd get from your two percent." Tazuna said, smiling at the thought of ridding himself of the short bastard.

"Hai, I'll kill Gato for you." Naruto replied, to which Kakashi couldn't help but shake his head.

"What, I get to kill a bad guy and make some money to. Why wouldn't I do it?" Naruto asked his sensei.

"If your father could only see you now." Kakashi whispered to Naruto.

"He probably would have done the same thing, I think." Naruto chortled. "Now, we know thanks to Akamaru that there's going to be two nin coming up ahead. Be on the look out for anything suspicious, and we'll get him. If you overlook anything it could be your life." He said to Kiba and Sasuke.

Sasuke grunted.

Team Seven and Tazuna continued their trek to Nami, and the next morning Akamaru woke Naruto up by barking constantly. Seeing as Naruto had awoken before Kiba, the tiny white furred puppy ran over to Naruto and began whining, climbing up on Naruto's stomach and licking his face.

"What is it boy?" Naruto asked, running his fingers through Akamaru's fur.

Akamaru yipped a couple of times and Naruto decided to wake Kiba up. Crawling low in the tent that they had set up the previous night, Naruto reached over to Kiba and shook him. When Kiba wouldn't wake, Naruto began channeling some lightning chakra and shocked Kiba who woke up with a start.

"Don't bite me there Akamaru." Kiba yelled out, rubbing his eyes to stare at Naruto and Akamaru curiously.

"I wonder what you were dreaming about dog breath." Naruto chided, and Akamaru growled at him. "He's the one dreaming it, not me." Naruto replied, petting the dog's head, and avoiding the tiny teeth that flashed at him.

"Shut up Naruto. What's going on?" Kiba asked.

"I don't know. Akamaru woke me up and he's been whining since, I think something's going on." Naruto explained. Akamaru ran over to Kiba and began yipping again.

"He's saying someone found us. That Kakashi is battling someone outside." Kiba said, getting up to his feet hastily. Naruto did as well, jumping up to his feet and grabbing his kunai and shuriken holster, attaching them to his pants and grabbing his scrolls, shoving them into a few pockets before the two of them ran outside to see what was going on.

Outside, Kakashi was battling a swordsman from Kiri, Naruto could tell as much from the hitai-ate that was cocked to the side. Naruto closed his eyes and prayed it wasn't a member of the Seven Swordsmen from the Mist, before opening them, Sharingan activated.

Kakashi seemed to be struggling with him, barely parrying the sword's blows with a kunai, his vision affected by the rapidly disappearing mist that had been hovering over the area. 'Kirigakure no Jutsu.' Naruto thought and looked over to his left, seeing Sasuke with a kunai in his hands, blocking any attempts made on Tazuna from the swordsmen's clones.

"Fuck me." Kiba whispered fearfully, as the killer intent coming from both nin was stifling in the air, causing Kiba to pant slightly.

"Chill out Kiba, go help Sasuke fend off any attacks on Tazuna, I'll help Kakashi." Naruto ordered.

"Hai, Naruto-taichou." Kiba replied, before he and Akamaru began sprinting towards Tazuna and Sasuke.

Trying to determine the best strategy to take on the freakishly tall jounin with his mammoth sword, Naruto gave up and decided on a frontal assault. Pulling some shuriken out of his holster and launching them at Zabuza, he grabbed a single kunai and sprinted ahead, his speed was unmatched by any genin as he appeared next to Zabuza in three seconds.

Zabuza ducked the shuriken someone tossed at him, before spinning around and kicking Kakashi in the face, knocking him back a few feet. Before Zabuza could make an attempt on Kakashi, there was a yellow blur and his jaw was racked with pain as a black clad blonde slammed his fist into his face with enough force to rock Zabuza's body.

Before Zabuza could react, the short blonde had appeared in front of him and kneed him in the face, breaking his nose and sending blood gushing from it. Naruto went to kick his face in but Zabuza grabbed his leg, and kicked Naruto in the chest, knocking him back a few feet, slapping the water with a sickly smack.

Naruto stood up and glared at the tall jounin. "Who are you?" Naruto demanded.

"If you must know, I will be your killer, I am Momochi Zabuza, ex-jounin and missing nin of Kirigakure. If you were wise, you'd run, but you won't, you're one of those stupid genin who simply doesn't know when to give up. So I will break you."

Zabuza grabbed his sword and was about to strike when he saw a flash of yellow incoming and blocked the attack with his sword. "I won't die, not until I become Hokage and show the world they were wrong about me." Naruto growled, blood red eyes staring at the missing nin.

"You're fast kid. Tell me your name before I kill you." Zabuza ordered.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage." Naruto replied, ducking a punch that Zabuza threw at him, his kunai grinding against the mammoth sword to prevent the sword from cleaving his head.

"Sorry kid, but you'll never become Hokage." Zabuza said cruelly, grinning behind the bandages. "Even if you were an exceptional genin, you don't stand a chance against me. I am from Kirigakure, and very exceptional with water based techniques." Zabuza bragged, spinning around his sword to kick Naruto in the face, knocking him clean across the beach and into the water. "This is my domain."

"Really?" Naruto said, standing up, wiping the blood from his mouth and spitting it to the side.

Zabuza began running through a set of hand seals as he ran onto the water, chasing after Naruto as he was about to unleash his attack. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Zabuza yelled, and water began swirling about in the water, before it began to rise, taking the shape of a dragon and it rushed towards Naruto who did nothing.

The water dragon flew towards Naruto and collided with him head on. Knowing that it was it for the blond genin, Zabuza began laughing until he saw a poof of smoke.

Bird, Dog, Ram, Horse, Dog, Dragon, Snake, Bird.

Naruto stood on the sandy beach and as Zabuza turned around, he unleashed his attack. "Lightning Style: Shockwave." He bellowed, and slammed his hands to the sand, sending electricity coursing through the sand and into the water, coursing it's way to Zabuza.

Zabuza screamed as the water he was suddenly standing on warmed up and he began convulsing as torrents of electricity coursed through his body. Kakashi appeared behind him and held a kunai to his throat. "Today you die." Kakashi growled out and slit Zabuza's throat.

Naruto was about to cheer when he suddenly instead of blood, water began oozing out of Zabuza's neck, before dissolving into a Mizu Bunshin. Kakashi looked taken back, and suddenly he screamed, "Naruto, jump." Before Naruto could do anything, Zabuza's sword cleaved right through his torso, cutting him in half.

Blood sprayed on Zabuza's face. "You didn't think you were the only one with clones did you kid?"

"No, I didn't jackass." Naruto said, before exploding into smoke, revealing it was another shadow clone.

"Hidden Leaf Style Taijutsu: One Thousand Years of Pain, Uzumaki Style." Naruto yelled, charging his kunai with lightning chakra before appearing behind Zabuza and shoving the lightning kunai into Zabuza's rear.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Zabuza bellowed, but instead of letting it go, Naruto continued channeling chakra into the kunai, sending bursts of lightning into Zabuza, as blood began to coat the kunai.

"Call it an Uzumaki Enema motherfucker." Naruto yelled, launching Zabuza up in the air, who flew up and landed on the water with a loud smack.

Tossing the bloody kunai to the side, Naruto was about to storm to Zabuza again, when the area was once again coated with a dense mist. Kakashi began to scout the area before shunshinning away to make sure Sasuke and Kiba were okay. Seeing they were fine, Kakashi disappeared, single Sharingan eye scanning the mist to find his otouto.

"You got balls kid. But you don't stand a chance against the Demon of the Mist. Do you know why I'm called that, because when I killed one hundred academy students in minutes without even studying there. I'm the best assassin from the mist and can kill you over and over with my Silent Killing technique." Zabuza bragged.

"You aren't a demon Zabuza. A deadly shinobi maybe, but not a demon. I'm a demon Zabuza, and if you think for one second I don't know where you're hiding in the mist, you're clearly confused."

"You're just a kid, what do you know about demons?" Zabuza asked.

"You heard about the Kyuubi attacking Konohagakure twelve years ago. The Yondaime Hokage couldn't kill it, so he sealed it within an orphan, within me. I'm a demon, you're nothing but a wannabe and you'll realize it soon."

Zabuza was shocked by the kid's confession.

"You want to work for Gato, a man who's enslaving a country and raping its women, that doesn't make you a demon, it makes you a bitch." Naruto shouted out, powering his chakra as it began flaring brightly, blue disappearing as red chakra took over, spiraling over Naruto's body and taking the face of the Kyuubi.

"Oh no, the seal." Kakashi yelled, running through a set of hand seals, all five fingers lit up.

Naruto began his hand seals. Ox, Rabbit, Monkey. Clasping his right bicep with his left arm, he began channeling lightning chakra to his hand. There was a surge of lightning and Naruto struggled to control it as he charged at Zabuza, his hand lighting up as sparks began spattering about.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled.

But in his rage, Naruto was deafened to his cries as he disappeared in a flash, a bright blue flash following him as he charged in towards Zabuza. Several things happened at once. Just as Naruto made it to Zabuza, so did Kakashi who slammed his lit fingers into Naruto's stomach where the Kyuubi's seal was at.

"Fuuinjutsu: Five Pronged Curse Seal." Kakashi yelled, destroying the current control Naruto had over the Chidori. The Chidori slammed into Zabuza's heart, and instead of killing him it shocked him, due to the loss of chakra control on Naruto's behalf. The jutsu blew up, searing the three nin's eyes as they flew backwards.

Naruto fell backwards unconscious and Kiba ran over to him to assist, and as Kakashi sprinted towards Zabuza, numerous senbon flew and landed in Zabuza's neck. Kakashi looked up to see a Kiri Hunter nin, more senbon in hand. Ignoring him for a second, Kakashi bent down to check Zabuza's pulse.

There was none. The swordsman was dead.

Kakashi slumped over himself once he made it back to the team, falling next to Naruto. "Watch Tazuna." Sasuke ordered Kiba, as he charged at the hunter nin. "Who are you?" Sasuke demanded, sending up chakra to his eyes, just in case.

The hunter nin saw the Sharingan and faltered for a second. "I'm a Kiri Hunter nin sent to kill that scumbag." A slightly feminine voice called out.

"Why wait until now?" Sasuke shot back, angry that the hunter nin had been coward enough to let them fight his battle.

"Because I'm a true shinobi. Why exert energy in fighting him when he's at full power, when we have some very disposable genin here ready to help. Now if you excuse me, I have a head to cleave." The hunter nin disappeared in a swirl of wind and ice, appearing over Zabuza's body and the two disappeared.

Sasuke was pissed, royally pissed. Both he and Kiba had been so scared, they let Kakashi and Naruto do all the fighting, while they hung back and protected Zabuza. They were comrades for fuck's sake, and Naruto was a brother to him.

He almost lost all self constraint when he thought Zabuza had chopped him in half, but the mission was dire. The Hokage had given it to them in confidence, believing that they could do what was needed to ensure an allegiance with Konoha and Nami.

Running over to Naruto and Sasuke's fallen bodies, he turned to stare at Tazuna, glaring at him. "This is what happens when you lie, we could of lost someone today. How far away is your house?" Sasuke demanded.

"Two miles east." Tazuna replied.

"Fine." Sasuke snapped, walking over to Naruto's body and picking it up.

"Let's go, we have to heal as fast as we can, I don't think we saw the last of Zabuza." Sasuke replied, disappearing in a flash.

AN: Review, I'm begging you.


	6. A Day of Resting

**REQUIEM OF A DEMON**

**CHAPTER SIX: A DAY OF RESTING**

**BY: DANIELNIEVES**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, even though I wish I had.**

**Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a bit, but I really didn't feel this fic anymore, my muse pretty much gave me the proverbial finger and was on vacation. So here's the next chapter of Requiem.** **Oh yeah, on another note I got my own forum in case you wanted to discuss the manga or any of my works, even suggestions please feel free to stop by.**

**I**

Sasuke paced back and forth in the room, eyes alert in paranoia, waiting nervously for the enemy to strike. Tazuna had taken them back to his house to rest up since both Kakashi and Naruto were passed out from chakra exhaustion.He honestly didn't think he'd have it in him to mess with the likes of Zabuza or even the hunter-nin right now, and that in itself was no easy feat to admit. Kiba had stayed up and they had taken turns on watch, where one would stay up for twelve hours making sure everything was okay and now Sasuke had relieved him of duty, and it had taken about five minutes for Kiba to fall sound asleep. Not that Sasuke could blame him, he himself had been tired when Kiba had first taken watch, the combination of all the stress and tension the battle with Zabuza had left him exhausted, physically and emotionally.

He had faced alot of things on that mission he hadn't wanted to admit to himself, even if they had been nagging away at the reccesses of his mind for quite some time now. All this time he had honestly thought he'd been as strong as Naruto, or at least close enough but Naruto had disproved that theory easily yesterday.

It had nothing to do with physical strength. When it came to their abilities as shinobis, they were pretty even, but he had lacked courage yesterday as Zabuza leaked out all that killer intent. He could only stand there dumbfounded and attempt to protect Zabuza though his traitorous mind had begged for him to kill himself, before Zabuza could get to him. He, Uchiha Sasuke had nearly killed himself because Zabuza had been on a different level. That man really was the Akuma no Kiri, the Demon of the Mist.

All he could do was just stand there, one hand holding a kunai as his knees had buckled and his bladder threatened to lose control in his terror.

But not Naruto.

Knowing they were in a tight jam, Naruto had thrown himself into the fight when it had seemed hopeless. Kakashi had been disabled for a second, unable to fight and Naruto had thrown himself in the fray, uncaring that the swordsman was an A-ranked missing nin. Sasuke had done no such thing, he had panicked and nearly wet himself. What was it that made Naruto so different?

He had almost killed him, right after he began leaking that foul, demonic chakra, he had charged up an A-ranked technique, and almost killed the Demon of the Mist with the Chidori. Sasuke had barely gotten control over his B-ranked technique and Naruto had nearly killed a missing nin Kakashi hadn't been able to beat!

Disgusted with himself, he walked all over the house over and over again, forcing himself to stay awake. To be the protector his comrades needed him to be.

Both Naruto and Kakashi had been turning in their sleep, each of them mumbling things that only they could decipher. Sasuke figured it would take them about another day of resting before they actually got up and all, chakra exhaustion was nothing to play around with. So until then, he'd watch, he'd protect them from any enemy, because that was the right thing to do.

And one day, he'd save his brother.

He'd be strong for him, and help him carry the burden that he shouldn't of had to carry, that was the job of an otouto. Sasuke himself couldn't imagine even now, putting the safety of his village before family and wiping the Uchihas out. That had been Itachi's burden, and he himself had been Sasuke's age when he did it.

So that meant he was weak, that he wasn't strong enough because he wouldn't of been able to carry that cross. Such a cross would of been too heavy to shoulder, but he'd make it. He'd become even stronger than Itachi, he'd save him.

He'd redeem his older brother from the shame he had taken upon himself.

Until then he'd never die.

Hours passed and it was morning again, hell he hadn't even noticed. Had he fallen asleep? Or had he been so in the zone that he hadn't notice the sands of time slow ebb away from the beach that was life. There was a slow creak, and his hand flew to his kunai pouch on its own volition and had been about to throw it, until he saw Tazuna's daughter Tsunami peaking out from the door.

"Sasuke-kun, have you been up all night?" Tsunami asked, her voice full of concern, her eyes dark brown with worry.

"Hn." He grunted out nodding. Removing his hand from his kunai pouch, he stood up off the wooden floor.

"Would you like me to make you some breakfast?" she asked, stepping into the room. Sasuke shrugged indifferently and strode over to the door and stepped out.

"If you want to." he called out, before striding over to the guest room in which his comrades where fast asleep.

Kiba was asleep with Akamaru curled in his coat against his neck. Kakashi was a living corpse, looking exactly like his name, scarecrow-like in his sleep, and not moving. Naruto was squirming about, shivering. "Sasuke..." he whispered. "Please help me, they're trying to kill me, please Sasuke... I'm not the Kyuubi." Reacting on instinct only, Sasuke walked over to Naruto's side and grabbed the lapels of shirt and shook him softly.

"Wake up Naruto, it's just a nightmare." Sasuke said softly, compassionate eyes full of sadness and regret as he could imagine what Naruto's dreams were like. Full of terror, always on the run, as heartless villagers terrorized him for being the container of the Kyuubi. How had he pushed through? How had he not killed them, or even unleashed the Kyuubi against Konoha?

"Please... not the eyes." Naruto sobbed out, before giving a scream full of terror and pain.

"Wake up!" Sasuke yelled out, shaking his best friend.

Naruto shot up off the bed and Sasuke stared into blood red eyes, three pointed shuriken spinning madly in Naruto's eyes as Naruto held onto Sasuke, tears welling up in his eyes. "Sasuke..." Naruto cried out, shaking.

"It's alright, dobe." Sasuke whispered gently, before pulling his best friend up to his feet. "You alright?" Sasuke asked genuinely.

"Yeah, I'm alright teme." Naruto replied, before running his arm to his eyes to cover up his tears. Drying his tears, Sasuke now stared into Naruto's green eyes, and the change was immediate, the nearly thirteen year old boy in front of him was a killer. Green eyes without emotion, shutting away the pain his dreams had revealed. "I'm going training." Naruto bit off harshly, before turning and heading out of the room.

"Wait, don't you want some breakfast?" Sasuke called out.

Naruto didn't reply, instead he ignored him, something he never did.

Shrugging away the voice that nagged in his mind, demanding that he chase his best friend, Sasuke instead walked over to Kiba and shook him gently. "Hey Kiba!"

Kiba awoke with a growl as well as Akamaru. "What is it?"

"Time to eat, mutt." Sasuke replied before leaving the room.

Kiba fully awoke and remembered what Sasuke just called him. "Teme, I'm not a fucking mutt." he barked out, and Akamaru had to agree with a small yip.

"Your name chooses to disagree, Inuzuka." Sasuke called out from the kitchen.

"Whatever, fan boy."

**II**

Her body racked with exhaustion, Ino laid back on the grass next to Shikamaru and Chouji. After training the two best friends would watch the clouds from a bench, but not today. Gai worked them extra hard since the Chuunin exams were only a month away, and he wanted to make sure he had a team that could ultimately win the chuunin exams and beat Kakashi's. Though Ino knew that was next to impossible. So rather than follow her comrades to the usual bench or go home and help her parents with the flower shop, Ino plopped down next to them, watching the clouds move and forcing her thoughts on Naruto.

Her somewhat of a boyfriend.

Her parents didn't really approve of him, simply put because he was the Kyuubi boy, a container for the powerful beast. They knew he wasn't a demon, but they also knew of the blind hate the villagers and shinobi held for him and didn't want that hate averted over to their daughter.

After all, they took his eyesight. How much did you have to hate a person, no a child, to rob them of one of their senses? For a shinobi of Konoha to risk the ire of the Sandaime and take a kunai and bury them into a blue eyed boy's eye sockets. Had it not been for the Konoha Medical Corps, Naruto would of remained eyeless and sightless.

Now, he was one of the last four weilders of the Sharingan.

She remembered their first date, she had asked him of course, simply because at the time, he didn't want anything to do with her. He was turning girls down left and right indiscriminately, he even turned down Hyuuga Hinata for a second date! Yet she remained determined, passionate about her crush, until one day she dragged him over to Ichiraku and offered to pay. They had talked for hours upon hours and in the end, she managed to sneak a kiss out of him, much to the green eyed boy's suprise.

And slowly, but steadily, the two began going out. They hadn't done much but go out on dates and make out, but it was enough for her. She knew she was only a pre-teen and way too young for sex, but she'd give it to him, if only he asked.

His only response was for them to wait until they were fifteen.

She didn't know of too many guys that would of done that. Kiba sure as hell wouldn't, that stupid mutt had asked her out a year ago and tried to get in her pants even then. Yet Naruto was patient, a blonde enigma who didn't realize how he affected and touched people. Jade eyes swirling around in his sockets in paranoia, to afraid to let anyone get to close, afraid to lose the very essence of life.

She loved him and she knew it, but he didn't. She'd just have to make sure he understood that when he returned from Nami.

**III**

Naruto sneezed a few times back to back. 'Someone must be talking about me...' he thought to himself, before scanning the area for enemies.

**IV**

Nii Yugito stared at the blonde boy in her view. Golden amber like eyes peered at him with curiousity. What could she say, curiousity killed the cat. She was fourteen, a chuunin of Kumogakure and the sole container for the Nibi no Nekomata. Her village had believed that being a Jinchiruuki was a blessing, a human blessed with the powers of a powerful deity. Spoiled and arrogant she had become, on a simple assassasination mission to kill Momochi Zabuza and collect the bounty for it.

Yet a team from Konoha was interfering in her business so she had followed them, like a predatory cat waiting, hidden from view, waiting for the moment to strike. She'd follow them, because the trail to Zabuza had gotten cold, so these stupid Konoha fucks probably had the information she needed.

But for some reason she couldn't budge off the branch she was currently hiding on, the Nibi sealed away inside her beckoned her to stay still and not move the instant she laid eyes on the blonde kid. Probably a newbie genin from her estimation, yet there was something hidden about him, something foul and evil pouring off him in waves.

She had walked in on the aftermath of the first fight against Zabuza and it lingered in the air like a foul stench, reeking and polluting the air suspiciously.

Following the trail of chakra, she stumbled into a crappy bunch of genins, whose jounin-sensei apparently had gotten the shit kicked out him.

Before she could formulate a plan on how to carry out her mission, a whizzing sound sliced through air as a kunai grazed her cheek, her blood tainting the air. Jumping from the tree and into the clearing, she launched another kunai to block an incoming one that would of penetrated her chest, and possibly killing her.

Kunais clashed with a resonating crack and she landed on some soft dirt, before golden eyes narrowed in anger to the attack. The blonde genin stared at her, a smirk rising to his face, his eyes sparkling in predatory delight. "So, who are you and why are you watching me?" he asked gently, before his voice took a more deeper baritone. "Speak up, or I won't hesitate to kill you..."

'Cocky isn't he?' she thought to herself.

Wiping the blood on her cheek, her lips pursed into a bitter scowl involuntarily. "Who do you think you are?" she asked, before reaching to her kunai purse only to find another kunai flying at her face.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." the genin responded, sighing softly, as if ambushes were a daily occurence. "Who the fuck are you?" he demanded angrily.

"Nii Yugito, it's only polite for you to give your own name, genin-san." she retorted, before giving him a smug smile of her own.

He stared at her headband, his sharp gaze leaving an undesirable feeling coursing through her. "So those old bastards didn't send you to kill me then, huh. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I suggest you run away now."

**V**

"Obito..Rin...Minato-sensei..." Kakashi called out in his sleep to phantoms long past. Obito had died in a battle against Iwagakure, Minato had died sealing the Kyuubi, and Rin, she disappeared after the Yondaime's death. Chances were she was probably dead now too, Kakashi held no forsaken chance of hope that his teammate was still alive.

Turning over in the small mattress, the cyclops opened up one bleary eye, nearly wincing in pain as it took in all the sunlight. "Kuso..." he whispered incoherently, before yawning, closing his single visible eye and trying to go back to sleep.

Everyday he'd been plagued with his failings, on how he failed everybody, and it never ceased. So to make up for it, he'd stare at that hunk of rock called 'Heroes Memorial Stone' and prayed to Kami that the deity would forgive him for his sins, his fails, and his blind arrogance that had caused pain across numerous families. Staring at the rock from sunrise, his would grow damp from absolution, as memories flooded him constantly, reminding him of why he was the single survivor of Team Namikaze.

He'd been a coward, an arrogant coward.

He refused to save Rin when she needed him and been too cowardly to face the Kyuubi, perhaps if he'd done more than quiver like a twelve year old, his sensei wouldn't of died. He'd be alive right now, and forced the villagers and people to see that his son was not the Kyuubi, but it's container.

Those temes allowed their hatred to run wild, converting a innocent nine year old into a ruthless shinobi, hardened by his misery and suffering, that same hatred flowing wickedly amongst his veins. But perhaps it wasn't too late to save that nine year old boy who died miserably, dying to make way for a new child, a child born among hate, whose hatred was burning brightly, threatening to destroy Konohagakure no Sato with a flash of embers.

**VI**

"If anyone should be running it's you boy..." Yugito challenged, before taking an offensive stance.

Ignoring her quip the boy took an offensive stance as well, with his knees slightly bent, ready to spring into action at any moment. "Please do not insult me by calling me boy, Yugi-chan." Naruto replied, but the quip was cut short as an angry blonde kunoichi slammed into him shoulder first, nearly taking the breath out of him as the two were sent rolling into the grass.

'How is she that fast? I didn't even see her...' Naruto thought as he willed himself back to his feet and stared the kunoichi down. 'Whoever she is, she's strong...'

"Don't ever... ever... call me Yugi-chan again." she yelled coarsely at him, before baring her fangs. Naruto opened his mouth and bared his at her, before forming his hand in the ram hand seal.

"Sharingan." he whispered, before his eyes turned blood red with two tomoes spinning around in it. He began charging up his chakra, the air was dense with it, before his gaze lingered on her face once more, then he fazed out of view, before reappearing in front of her, slamming his elbow in her face, jerking her head back, causing her to lose sight of him temporarily.

Scowling to herself for being cocky, the blond kunoichi braced herself for another blow, and it came as Naruto reappeared behind her, ramming his knee into the small of her spine, sending her shooting foward, her eyes closed in pain. Naruto charged again and was about to land a vicious spinning heel kick to her face when flames shot out of Yugito's and covered her body with it, surrounding herself in a tight globe of blue flames.

Naruto's foot collided with her globe barrier and nearly yelped as his feet and sandals were burned from the intense fire. Cursing himself, he back away, leaping with chakra. "Kuso." he nearly whispered, as he look for a way to attack Yugito without getting burned. It didn't look possible as she was emanating fire from each of her pores, blue flames licking at her skin without burning her.

It seemed to be some kind of offense and defense at the same time which would only make this fight a bit harder. Staring at her with his Sharingan, he noted the legs were the weakest area for him to attack, the fire only covered her to about mid thigh. Naruto puled out a kunai and tied an explosive note around it, before launching it at the pretty kunoichi.

'Did I just call her pretty in my head?' Naruto thought, and the kunai was inches from reaching her face, but then a paw made of blue flames and chakra extended from her hands, and batted at it, the blue flames lighting up the note before it exploded in a swirl of smoke, giving him all the time he needed. See, the kunai was just a diversion, it wasn't the actual attack, he just needed her to be blinded for a second to give him time to do what he needed.

Charging up electricity to his hands, Naruto fazed out of view again. Yugito was fast, she should be able to see him. "Where is the little son of a ..." Yugito was interrupted as to hands shot out of the earth and grabbed the back of her calfs, holding her in place. Putting her hands together in a ram seal, she began generating chakra rapidly and focusing it to her feet, before bending her knees slightly and launching herself in the air, ripping Naruto out of the ground.

Naruto let go of her, just in time as she back flipped, landed and got through his defenses with a sharp kick to his face, sending him flying backwards. Naruto tried to twist himself in midair, but it was too late as Yugito grabbed him and slammed him face first into a tree.

Blood trickled down gently from his forehead, to form a small rivulet that slowly trickled down his eyes and nose, then slowing down past his lips. His face was racked with pain, and he slowly tried to get up, but a kick to his ribs cut him short as he flew backwards, spittle flying from his mouth. "You bitch..." Naruto groaned as he slammed into another tree knocking it down.

"You'll regret calling me that Naruto-kun." She called out to him, before running through a set of hand seals, "Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!" She yelled before arching back and gathering up the chakra in her lungs, then bending foward and blowing out a large fireball that vaulted towards him before slamming into him.

Naruto screamed as he was being burned alive.

Yugito watched him smugly, before a sharp blow to her head sent her spinning. "What the fuck?" Turning around she saw it was Naruto, with no burn marks whatsoever. Curious, she stared back at the spot the fireball was burning and there was a Naruto clone. "Kage Bunshin?" Yugito asked him.

Naruto responded with a kick to her jaw, nearly dislocating it as she crashed into the dirt. "Nope, a simple old bunshin. Suiton: Water Splash." Naruto replied, before launching an Suiton jutsu at her, small in size, it did nothing but wet her, coating her in water.

"That was it?" Yugito said.

"That's all it was supposed to be." Naruto replied. Yugito frowned, trying to think of why he would use such an ineffective Suiton jutsu. "By the way, Yugi-chan. I'm a Kage Bunshin." Naruto replied, but popping into a cloud of smoke.

Yugito's eyes widened, but it was too late. "Raiton: Shockwave no Jutsu!" Naruto bellowed, behind her a couple yards, slamming his hands to the ground, and lightning began to arc up from it and launch towards her.

'That's what the Suiton jutsu was for...' she thought, realizing that this Raiton attack, combined with her already drenched self could either kill her or incapacitate her. Neither one was an option, she realized. She couldn't fail her mission, she never failed one before and she wasn't starting now. 'Hey Nibi, please give me some chakra. If you don't we'll both die, I don't need too much, just enough to beat this kid.' she begged, hoping the Nibi would be compliant.

Nibi's only response was a grunt, before the seal on her stomach twitched.

The twin arcs of lightning collided.

Then richocheted back at Naruto. "What the fuck?" Naruto asked, moving out of harms way with a kawarimi. Blood red eyes focused on the area that Yugito had been at, spinning widly in order to try to track her movements. Suddenly in her place was a large cat, slightly bigger than Yugito herself. Naruto realized that the cat shape was chakra, and if the vivid blue color was any indication as well, it was probably hot. Staring harder, he saw Yugito in the middle of the chakra, on all fours and one fire blue tail coming out by the rear.

"She's a jinchiruuki like me..." Naruto whispered, before dodging a fireball the cat fired at him. Suddenly he remembered something, from just recently, something he copied with his Sharingan. Dodging fireball after fireball, Naruto ran through hand seals and his fingers grew blue. He was maybe two yards from the cat, when its paw knocked him back a few feet. Using all his chakra control, he kept hold of the attack, standing up and charging again, leaping over another fireball and shunshining in front of Yugito, who stood up to full height to attack, but not before Naruto slammed his fingers into her gut.

The sealing jutsu did as it was supposed to, effectively cutting off the chakra from whatever kami-forsaken bijuu happened to be sealed within Yugito. Yugito snarled loudly, her reserves drained and cut off from the youkai, before her eyes closed and she fell over unconscious, her face slamming harshly against the dirt.

'Let's hope I did that right.' Naruto thought, stumbling around for a second, his body tired from the battle. He really wanted nothing more than to sleep right about now. Bending down, he picked the vicious kunoichi up and heaved her onto his shoulder before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

They arrived at Tazuna's house fifteen minutes later and after surprising Tsunami who had been cooking in the kitchen, he stepped into her house and carried Yugito over to the room he'd woken up in. Kakashi was still passed out and Sasuke and Kiba appeared to be gone, most likely protecting Tazuna at the bridge. Pulling a lengthy bit of ninja wire, he wrapped it around her, binding her arms to her side. As an extra precaution, Naruto strategically placed chakra reactive explosive seals on her body. One on her forehead, one on her jugular and another on her sternum. She already had another two on her, Naruto had placed those on the back of her ankles during the fight when he used the Inner Decapitation jutsu, knowing damn well she wouldn't feel him there. But those reacted to his chakra specifically.

She was going to be pissed at him when she awoke, not that Naruto cared, his body was littered with second and third degree burns from whatever the fuck fire she was putting out. After making sure she was properly binded and secured, Naruto left the room and headed up towards the kitchen where Tsunami was cooking at. "Tsunami-san, if you don't mind, could you tell me where the bathroom is at?" Naruto asked gently, before placing a hand on the back of his head sheepishly, giving her a fox-like smile.

"Please, just call me Tsunami. Just head up those stairs if you want to get to the bathroom." She said, pointing over to her left to where there was a staircase. "It's the least I can do for saving my father, if you need anything else let me know." Tsunami said softly, giving the young nin an appreciative smile.

"Hai." Naruto nodded, not used to so much kindness from strangers, though his face lit up in a blush. Tsunami laughed warmly, before shooing him out of the kitchen. Naruto headed on up the steps and into the bathroom where he took a good look at himself. His face wasn't too bad, except for the swelling and dried blood that was caked there. His torso was what really hurt, the fight had been far from epic, nearly anti-climatic but it had taken it's toll on him. Bijuu chakra was especially dangerous to humans, even jinchiruuki and her fire was no different.

Yet he had hesitated to kill her several times over. He hadn't activated the explosive notes which probably would of blown her legs off, and there had been opportunities to kill her, yet he hadn't. Was he going soft again? He had worked so hard to build a wall between him and other people, and no one besides Sasuke and Kakashi-niisan had gotten through. He was cool with Kiba, but didn't really know the Inuzuka, but everyone else had been shut out.

Even the Sandaime, one of his most precious people in the world had been shut out for his deception and reluctance to help the son of the Yondaime when he'd been in need. Yet even before he realized Nii Yugito was a jinchiruuki, he'd already been soft on her, despite her viciousness.

What was she fighting for?

He knew who he was, he was Uzumaki Naruto, the son of a madman patriot who had sealed the greatest of Bijuus in him believing the village would adopt him and love him. He was a jinchiruuki, hated by all and loved by few, and no longer fought for recognition, for a childish dream of becoming Hokage, the village leader.

He fought for survival.

That's what made him vicious, because the hatred and contempt many had misplaced on him now ran through his blood. He wanted to make them pay, he wanted to watch Konoha burn. What a sight it would be for him to parade through the streets and slaughter them indiscriminately, with full coherence.

Yet that would make him the demon they claimed he was. For so long he fought for his identity, as just Uzumaki Naruto, the container.

Did he even fucking care anymore? Lately his lines of right and wrong seemed to blur into one, and nearly everything was in his gray zone. Killing didn't bother him, but becoming the Kyuubi did. Despite his hate for Konoha, he still hated the Kyuubi that much more. Despite his hatred of the Yondaime, his hatred for the King Of Bijuus was so much more extensive.

His hatred for it was even more potent than the villagers. Because if that big, stinking son of a bitch hadn't attacked Konoha and killed so many people, his idiot of a father wouldn't of had to seal it within him, and maybe he could of lived the life he deserved. He spent the next hour cleaning himself, jumping in the shower to wash the blood and grime off his body. After assuring himself that he was clean, he hopped out of the shower and unsealed a scroll that had a white gi outfit he sometimes used for training. Jumping into the white gi, he put his black shinobi sandals on and tied his hitai-ate around his neck.

The sleeves were cut off on the gi, as well as the bottom of the pants since they'd been too long when he pulled them out of a dumpster, giving the gi a rugged, dangerous look to it. Leaving his spiky hair wet, he headed downstairs and blushed again when he saw the look he was getting from Tsunami. "Naruto-kun, if you didn't have that cut across your face or that bad swelling I'd probably force you into marriage." Tsunami joked, before walking up to Naruto and ruffling his still wet hair. "I love your hair, it's so soft and bright. In a couple of years, you just might have to return to Nami no Kuni." Tsunami continued teasing, before letting Naruto go who was scowling, his whiskers trembling from pleasure.

"Stop that Tsunami-chan, you shouldn't jest like that." Naruto said, still scowling, though it was a pretense.

Tsunami went back to cooking before calling out to Naruto. "Who says I'm jesting?" The thought alone was enough to get a small nosebleed out of Naruto who wiped it off quickly before she could notice.

"Whatever." Naruto grumbled back at her, before exiting the kitchen and headed back towards the guest bedroom. In there to his surprise was Yugito awake and struggling who scowled at him once he entered the room.

"Let me go, you bastard."

"No thanks kitty, we got to talk..._**jinchiruuki.**_" Naruto growled the last portion out before walking over to Yugito. She squirmed weakly against her bonds.

"Baby, I suggest you don't use chakra, 'less you want to blow yourself up..." Naruto said, donning an impish grin.

"Kuso." Yugito cursed.

A/N Pt2: This is it for now, sorry for the long wait and you know the business, review if you want. Also, check the profile for fanfic updates for all my work as well as rants and such.


	7. Memories of the Leaf

Requiem of Demon

_**Requiem of Demon**_

_**Chapter Seven: Memories of the Leaf**_

_**DanielNieves**_

Author's Note: Sorry for the long updates, my muse hasn't been the greatest lately, that and I just recently got hooked on the Office and watched the first four seasons straight through. So in order to make it up, I'll try to make this chapter longer.

**I**

Yugito's lips curled into a sneer, refusing to reply. Naruto sighed then shrugged, sitting in front of her cross legged. "I'm going to get an answer out of you, one way or another, so you might as well give up on whatever power trip you're on." Naruto spoke, folding his arms across his chest. Yugito arched a delicate eyebrow at him, before lowering her eyes down to her body, completely strapped with paper bombs and seals.

"Son of a bitch…" she cursed at him, angry at her predicament. If she set the bombs off, she doubted even the Nibi no Nekomata could even heal her.

"One burst of chakra from me and boom! So I suggest you fucking comply with my each demand, _jinchiruuki_!" Naruto replied, his voice dripping with vehemence.

"How do you know what I am? In fact, how did you even beat me in my tailed state?" Yugito demanded harshly, growling in anger.

Before she could continue her rant, Naruto sprung into attack, yanking a kunai and pushing the cold steel blade against Yugito's jugular, whiskers quivering in rage. "Let me make something clear, Yugi-chan, I make the demands here, not you. As for why I was able to beat you, for one, I'm a jinchiruuki as well." Naruto spoke softly, belying the sadness with anger.

"You're a jinchiruuki?" Yugito asked softly, not wanting to piss of her captor.

"Yeah, I'm the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune, thanks to my father anyway." Naruto revealed gently, calming down and removing the kunai from her neck. "How you become a demon?" Naruto continued.

"I'm not, I'm just a container for the two-tailed bijuu. Why would you think I'm a demon?"

"Container, demon, same thing. The instant that foul demon was sealed in you, you became one, whether you accept it or not." Naruto spoke regretfully, standing up to walk to the window and stare out to the ocean view.

"I'm not a demon…" Yugito protested.

"You never answered my question Yugito." Naruto pointed out flatly.

"In Kumogakure it is considered an honor to house a demon, people worship us and the ability is passed on through families of the Raikages. My father was the Yondaime Raikage, and the previous jinchiruuki had been too old so as a welcoming gift to the Raikage, they gave me the honor of being the container." Yugito explained.

"It's an honor to be a container in Kumo? All my life I've been hated and spat upon for having this demon sealed within me and you've had it so easy in Kumo… they took my eyes, ripped them clean out my sockets while you were worshipped…"

Yugito was silenced by his confession. She had never assumed to think of other containers around the Elemental Nations, Kumo had another once, the Raikage's brother housed the Hachibi, but she never honestly thought there were other's besides them. She never asked, instead she reveled in the attentions given to her. Though the Raikage's brother had it worse then she had, his treatment had never been anywhere as bad as the blonde brat in front of her.

"You have no idea how much I hate my father right now…"

"You're father…"

"He was the one who sealed that foul beast in me, he condemned me to a life full of hate, of solitude. I never knew for the longest, nine years I sought to make people recognize me, to understand what I did that was so bad that no one wanted to play with me, no one sold me clothes. Yet it wasn't the same for you, what makes Konoha so different, we're generally viewed as the good guys, yet they terrorized a nine year old until he hated life, when all he wanted to do was protect him, but who protected him?

Naruto was silent, before green eyes lit up with a cruel smirk and turned to Yugito. "I wonder how Kumo would take it if I blew up their jinchiruuki right now? You're their idol, a god in their eyes, if I blew you up, it'd hurt their morale pretty bad, ne?"

Yugito's gold eyes widened for a second. "Kid, you don't want to do that…"

"I'm not a kid." Naruto interrupted harshly, "Not anymore."

"I didn't know you were into bondage…" a lazy drawl halted Naruto in his tracks. He turned around to find his sensei up and about.

"Kaka-sensei, I thought you'd never get up." Naruto spoke, allowing a small smile to cross his face. Kakashi had never betrayed him, not yet at least, so he was good in Naruto's book.

"We can't all recover as fast as you can, Naruto." Kakashi replied lazily, crinkling his eye into a weird smile, before allowing his eye to gaze at Yugito awkwardly. "Whose the kunoichi you're planning on blowing up?" Kakashi asked, gazing at her hitai-ate and noticing the Kumo emblem.

"She's like me, a jinchiruuki Kakashi-sensei. She attacked me for no reason so I defended myself and was questioning her." Naruto explained.

"Hn… What are you doing here kunoichi-san?" Kakashi asked gravely, his visible eye boring into Yugito.

"Go fuck yourself." Yugito spat out angrily.

"I am not as patient as my student here, and I will not hesitate to kill you." Kakashi replied.

"Of course it'd be just like you Konoha-nin to attack a defenseless kunoichi. After all, we all heard the tall tales of your Yondaime…" the instant she said that, she stared at Naruto and realization dawned on her face. "I've only seen pictures of him, but you look a lot like him… you could be his son!"

"We have to kill her now Naruto, she knows. She could easily take that information to Kumo and Iwa and we have another war on our hands." Kakashi said regretfully, looking at Naruto to see if he was prepared to do the deed.

"Hai sensei." Naruto replied, forming a ram seal.

"We should probably take her outside before blowing her up." Kakashi quickly interjected.

"Probably." Naruto replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Shaking his head, Kakashi spoke again, "We could always cut her throat."

"Yeah, but we won't get any information out of her. And that's exactly what we need right now."

"So what do you suggest?" Kakashi asked, staring at the blond kunoichi.

"Stop staring, hentai. I'm only fourteen." Yugito snapped. "Hurry up and kill me."

"Not without the information," Naruto replied evenly. He turned to Kakashi, "I can break her, it'll only take a second." Naruto finished, smiling mischievously.

Kakashi shook his head, his grin full of mirth though hidden by his mask. "Do as you please." Kakashi nodded towards the blonde kunoichi. Yugito's eyes widened in fear, teal orbs quivering as her brain raced through the possibilities of tortured that the anxious blonde was promising.

'He's going to rape me, that sick bastard…' Yugito thought to herself.

"All you're life you've been worshipped because of what you are, I'm going to show you what it's like on the other side." Naruto growled out as his tenketsus exploded, his body flooding with chakra, making the air crisp with it.

Yugito tried to cower back fearfully, but strong, brittle fingers grasping her shoulders. "Mangekyou Sharingan." Naruto spoke, his voice raspy with pain and Yugito was captivated by his eyes as they turned from green to red with two red spinning tomoes. The two spinning tomoes continued spinning wildly, nearly out of control, entrancing her.

Suddenly they came to a silent halt, no longer two tomoes but something else entirely. The comma shaped tomoes formed a three pointed pinwheel, dangerous in appearance. "What is that?" Yugito whispered, mainly to herself, still captivated by the blood red eyes.

"Tsukyomi…" Naruto retorted, casting the genjutsu over her. His left eye throbbed in pain for a second, before the two of them were taken to a landscape of the jutsus creation.

Moon reader… Yugito thought.

"This is my genjutsu called the Tsukyomi. In here time passes a bit differently then on the outside world. One day here is one second out in the real world, perhaps you are lucky I haven't mastered the technique yet." Naruto commented hastily.

"It's just a genjutsu…" Yugito whispered, trying to find a way out of the genjutsu.

"Don't even waste your breath, the Tsukyomi can't be broken by anybody but the caster. Have fun living my worst enemies." Naruto declared before vanishing.

Xxx

Seven years ago

A small boy woke up drenched in sweat, hands clammy, with a sinking feeling deep in his gut. Today was his birthday, how unfortunate he was to be born on the day the Kyuubi had been defeated. A festival was held annually to celebrate its defeat, the populace of Konoha hung out in the downtown and drunk to the foam, they smoked and made frantic love, enthused that they hadn't been killed in the Kyuubi attack.

That was the day they usually came for him. Villagers who were completely inebriated, full of rage for apparently no reason who had nothing better but to muck up his birthday. He never had done anything to them, except maybe play harmless pranks, but that hadn't been done maliciously, it had only been done to make them recognize him.

He didn't want to be forgotten.

After all, he was just a five year old orphan, too young to be a ninja in training, too dumb to apprentice under anybody, even if they felt enough to pity him. He knew he wasn't smart, apparently his own family didn't want, they had deserted him, leaving him to live alone.

Sandaime-ojiji had told him that they had died in the Kyuubi attack, but Naruto knew that it was bullshit. They hadn't wanted him, left him all wrapped up in a bundle on the doorsteps to an orphanage who kicked him out by the time he was four.

Did anyone ever love him?

Would he be missed if he was gone?

Not that he'd be dying anytime soon, his wounds healed automatically for some reason. Naruto knew, he tried to commit suicide plenty times enough, fed up from the hate the villagers gave him, they despised him for no reason.

He tried slitting his wrists twice, grabbing a blunt training kunai and slicing his veins after sharpening it, yet his wounds healed immediately.

He was tired of the life he lived, tired of being called a 'demon' or 'monster' for no reason, tired of being hated, tired of being lonely. Why did so many have a loving family and he had to suffer alone?

"Get out here you fucking monster!!" A loud yell tore through the room. How drunk were they? It was only ten in the morning and the festival was set to start for another hour or so.

Jumping out of his bed deftly, he slipped on a white shirt with an orange spiral on the back and some khaki shorts. Sliding his smooth feet into a pair of getas, he tore across the room to grab a small training katana the Sandaime had left him. He wasn't any good with it, but if he had one attacker, perhaps he'd strike him good across the face and evade the pursuer.

Hiding in the shadows, Naruto crept to his window to take a look at how many people were outside when a brick crashed through the window and smashed against his temples, knocking him roughly across the room.

Staggering to his feet, he dully noted that blood was dripping down the side of his head. Before he could do anything else, someone jumped through his window followed by others and suddenly he was paralyzed with fear, unable to move. Panting, he forced his nerves to react as his five year old body flooded with adrenaline.

"Don't run." A hoarse voice commanded, reaching out in the dimly lit room. An arm reached out and cold, gloved fingers found the nape of Naruto's throat. Oxygen was suddenly cut off and Naruto wheezed for a second trying to pull away but a strong fist slammed into his eye, forcibly clenching it shut.

Tears welled in his eyes, blurring his already diminishing vision. Stumbling for a second, he took another punch to the face, making his knees buckle. "You're going to die today you little shit." One of them spoke.

At least half of them were ninja, he probably wouldn't survive this encounter. Not that it would be a bad idea, with him dead the village could finally get over whatever hate they held for him and he'd be elsewhere, grains of ash in a tomb. "Get it over and done with…" Naruto whispered sadly, closing his eyes and waiting for the pain.

Fate did not disappoint.

A kunai was rammed into his neck in an attempt to slice his jugular and blood squirted up in the air, tainting the room with its metallic taint. Before Naruto could even understand what was going on, a tanto was buried into his stomach to the hilt. Naruto opened his mouth to scream but all that came out was a glob of blood, spraying into his attacker's faces.

Falling face first to the floor, the last thing he saw before reaching blissful unconsciousness was a dog faced ANBU mask.

oOo

Opening his eyes, the little boy saw the Sandaime Hokage sitting in a chair in front of his bed. "You're awake Naruto…" the Sandaime spoke, happy that Naruto hadn't died in the attack.

"Why jiji, why do they hate me so much?" Naruto croaked out, his voice raspy, his body aching with pain.

"I don't know Naruto, perhaps you were in the wrong place at the wrong time…" Sarutobi lied, though Naruto noticed the lie quickly.

"I was in my apartment, is that not were I was supposed to be?"

Turning his face to cover the tears, Naruto buried his face into his pillow. "Why do I even try? I hate you jiji for standing around and letting me get attacked so frequently, I hate Konoha." Naruto said regretfully.

Seeing the broken look on Sarutobi's face, it was then and there were Naruto decided to put on a mask of happiness, to endure the trials the bigoted nation tossed his way. "Just kidding old man, don't worry, I'll still become Hokage." Naruto replied cheerily.

A stricken look crossed Sarutobi's face at the boy's strange response.

"What are you looking at old man? You heard me, I'm going to take your job away." Naruto continued, before closing his eyes in exhaustion.

oOo

An older blonde tears through the forest in order to evade his pursuers. It was his ninth birthday so this time he was expecting it. Actually he'd been up all morning, blue eyes scanning Konoha in an attempt to see his attackers before they could get him.

But there had been no attacks all morning, so he jumped into his shorts and sandals and slipped into a tight black tee and headed off to school.

Sure he'd received ugly looks from Iruka, Mizuki and a couple of other classmates, but they looked at him like that everyday.

Like he didn't deserve to live, and he had no idea why.

Well he did in a sense, he just recently found out about his connection with the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and apparently the Yondaime had sealed it into him at his birth. Now he knew why he was so hated, yet it aggravated him that they didn't understand. He wasn't the Kyuubi, all his life he had loved and been eager to protect Konoha and its residents.

Hours later the total annihilation of Uzumaki Naruto began.

oOo

"Stop!!" Yugito screamed as tears streamed down her face. His memories were playing vividly in her head and nothing she could do could shut them. Other memories merged and Yugito suddenly felt connected to Naruto in a way she never felt before.

As a kunoichi of Kumo it was her duty to be naturally detached to everything and suddenly she was flooding with emotions, filling her up as a bridge connected her to Naruto. She knew him in a sense, despite just meeting him, she absorbed something of his and now it formed a bond.

"What the fuck happened?" Naruto snarled as the wrong memories began playing in his genjutsu. Rather than continuing his montage of pain, memories of happy times began replaying. Memories of Sasuke and Kakashi, even the Sandaime were suddenly flooding Yugito's brain as well as the emotions behind them.

A conversation with Iruka, a hug between him and the Sandaime, the forming of a bond with him and Sasuke, him and Ino, everything began flooding her senses. "Kuso!" Naruto snapped, and cut off the genjutsu, shutting it before anymore could be revealed.

II

Momochi Zabuza was dead…

Utterly and undeniably gone.

He had hung on weakly and Haku had done everything he could to save his master, fretting about searching for herbs, yet it had been in vain. Zabuza had hung on for another day after the fight and then his heart gave out, refusing to pump the life substance through his veins.

The blonde genin had killed him.

He had robbed Zabuza of his sole purpose in life, took away the only master, the only person who had ever looked at Haku as if he wasn't worthless. How dare he?

Haku had used his extensive medical knowledge to find out what happened to Zabuza, his heart had a failure as well as suffering from some sort of chakra poisoning. It had been obvious, the jutsu that the blonde had hit Zabuza with sent electrical sparks through Zabuza's body, frying his nerves and damaging the circulation of blood from the heart.

Not to mention that foul, red chakra had poisoned Zabuza's body, stopping Zabuza's body from healing himself.

Tears slid from Haku's eyes.

His master had been stolen from him. He'd pay that bastard tenfold, he'd kill him and the rest of his raggedy team. Standing up, he grabbed the zanpatou Zabuza had left behind in his death, and slid it into its large scabbard. He was far from a novice with using the Kubikiri Houchou, he simply hadn't used it since it was Zabuza's primary weapon. But Zabuza had trained him in using it, and use it he would against the Leaf nins who took his master from him.

How could he live with no purpose?

Knowing he failed the one person who trusted him and thought he was worth something. He failed Zabuza, hesitated to attack and now it was too late…

Crushing his fake hunter nin mask into dust, heartless brown eyes stared at a pair of ex Kiri chuunins.

The Demon Brothers.

"You ready?" Haku's voice came out cold, icily cruel as his lips curled into a grimace.

"Hai." The chuunins replied.

"Let's go then."

And with that, the innocent fourteen year old boy died, and was replaced by a cold, heartless assassin.

III

"What's wrong with Naruto?" Kiba asked, sitting down in exhaustion. He and Sasuke had been sparring for the last hour in taijutsu and they had been pretty evenly matched, though Kiba scored the win this time around. Petting Akamaru's head, Kiba looked at Sasuke through slitted eyes.

Both boys knew their place in the team. Kiba specialized in taijutsu and combination attacks with Akamaru though his ninjutsu was average for a genin and genjutsu was subpar. Sasuke was decent in taijutsu but his ninjutsu was highly skilled, possibly on a low jounin level and his genjutsu was nothing to scoff at.

Naruto though was ridiculous. His taijutsu was shitty, everyone knew that and his ninjutsu was Chuunin level at best. His genjutsu wasn't great either, he sucked at realizing he was trapped in them and could only perform the Tsukyomi when using his Mangekyou. But Naruto had abilities that they didn't have, he had ridiculous stamina and high chakra reserves to make up for his faults.

Combined, they formed Konoha's heavy assault squadron, each promising in their own right.

Sasuke turned to look at Kiba with onyx eyes, "Naruto gets like that often. He'll have a nightmare in which his closest friends kill or hurt him and gets very defensive. All his life he was hated because of the Kyuubi and people betrayed him a lot, even the Sandaime so now it's so hard for him to trust.

"I can't fault him, I was like that when me and Naruto became brothers, he had just lost his eyes and I lost my family but we worked through it. Kiba, if you ever plan on getting close to Naruto, never betray or cross him because he will kill you if I don't first." Sasuke explained. "I'm not threatening you in any form, I just need you to understand that because of the Kyuubi and his treatment through childhood, Naruto's sanity suffers. I'm not going to lose another brother…" Sasuke stopped, his words heavy with emotion.

He hated talking about the sentimental stuff, but Kiba was part of the group whether he liked it or not.

"I understand, I don't know how he could defend Konoha so much if he went through that." Kiba spoke quietly, and Akamaru barked in response.

Sasuke grinned at the cute puppy. "It's not hard. He's going to prove them all wrong, he's going to shove his nindo down their throats and become Hokage." Sasuke grunted.

Nodding, Kiba pulled out two soldier pills, tossing one to Sasuke offhandedly. "Eat it, it'll replenish your chakra, I'm going to practice those ninjutsus Kaka-sensei taught me." Kiba replied, before popping one in his mouth and tearing off with Akamaru in tow.

Putting the rounded ball in his mouth and biting, Sasuke nearly gagged at the offensive taste. Feeling his depleted reserves replenish, Sasuke stood up and took off, heading back to Tazuna's house to check up on Naruto.

Arriving there ten minutes later, he quietly opened the front door and stepped inside. Tsunami waved at him from the kitchen. "Afternoon Sasuke-kun. You should check up on Naruto, he's brought over a pretty visitor, a ninja like you guys."

Fearing the worst he sprinted towards the guest room where they bunked and Sasuke entered the room, his line of sight falling onto a pretty kunoichi with a Cloud hitai-ate, tied up and wrapped in paper bombs. Kakashi was off in the back of the room reading Icha Icha, yet listening intently.

But what unnerved Sasuke the most was the intense look the kunoichi and Naruto were sharing.

It didn't seem like hate.

Sasuke grunted loudly and got Naruto's attention. "Whose she?" Sasuke demanded, glaring daggers at the kunoichi.

IV

An old man leaned back in his chair, putting down his small telescope to glare at an old student of his. "Jiraiya-kun, you were caught peeping again, Anko and Kurenai are planning on castrating you, you pervert." The Sandaime reprimanded softly, a warm genuine smile on his face.

"Like your any better sensei? You were just peeping too and I see the Icha Icha book you're trying to cover up." Jiraiya responded, before plopping down into a seat in front of the aging leader of Konohagakure.

"That is beside the point. I'm glad to see you again, Jiraiya-kun. It's been twelve years hasn't it and you haven't been back to see an old man who once taught you." Sarutobi said regretfully.

A sad smile lit up Jiraiya's face. "It has been a while sensei, but I'm probably the best one out of Team Sarutobi. Orochimaru's off trying to become immortal, Tsunade's out there in debts and such, I'm just perverted." Jiraiya replied off-handedly. "Gomen ne, sensei. But after Minato's death I couldn't be in Konoha." Jiraiya continued.

Sarutobi nodded sagely. "Hai, but you've no idea the suffering Minato's legacy has been through your absence."

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Jiraiya asked, concern marring his features.

"Hai. The village turned him into a pariah, a scapegoat if you will, beating the boy halfway to death on several occasions. On his ninth birthday he had a mob hired by Danzou to kill him while Itachi wiped out the Uchihas and they gouged out his eyes and everything." Sarutobi explained, saddening as he told Jiraiya of Naruto.

Jiraiya shook his head sadly, nearly glaring at his teacher. "And just what were you doing to help him?" he roared, nearly leaping out of his seat.

"Please don't be hypocritical Jiraiya, you never cared about him before. I at least made sure he stayed alive." Sarutobi bellowed, his eyes blazing in anger. "Alas, that is not the subject of our true conversation. You are here to report exactly what's been going on for the last twelve years of absence."

Calming down a bit, Jiraiya began. "As you know I've been trailing Orochimaru closely for the last couple of years. Apparently he joined a group called the Akatsuki whose sole purpose is to collect the bijuu and use it for their own purposes, killing the container in the process. After leaving the organization he formed Otogakure and became the 'Otokage'. The main reason I'm here is because he convinced the Sand to join forces with him and at the Chuunin exams he plans on destroying the village and assassinating you."

Sarutobi paused for a second, taking it all in. "Hmm. Naruto will be in danger then from the Akatsuki?"

"Yeah, but what about Orochimaru?" Jiraiya retorted.

"I do not fear him. He's just a boy who lost his parents and surrounded himself in so much hate, he never truly understood what strength meant. I don't have many years left Jiraiya, I will stop Orochimaru at the Chuunin Exams, but I'll most likely lose my life. Whether I die or not is truly inconsequential, you are to become the next Hokage, the Godaime Jiraiya." Sarutobi explained.

"No way… that's not happening." Jiraiya retorted, but was swiftly cut off by the aging man.

"Yes, you said it yourself, you are the best sannin, my best disciple. It should be fitting for you to take my place. Once you take up my mantle, you'll be able to protect Naruto like you haven't for the last twelve years, you owe him that much." Sarutobi said sagely.

Swallowing the bile that rose to his throat at the image of Sarutobi dying and him becoming Hokage, he spoke again, "Sensei, why can't I train Naruto personally and Tsunade become Hokage?"

"Tsunade would make a great Hokage, but you are more capable than her at protecting the village. With the Akatsuki in the horizon and the village itself, Naruto's life will be in danger, you'll be able to protect him from within the village walls. Not to mention, you're to groom him into the Rokudaime position. Because of his childhood, he doesn't want to protect the village, but with you around, hopefully you're 'charming' personality will change his mind. He's strong and bright and could very well be stronger than his father."

"I thought he was blind."

"The night of the Uchiha Massacre, Uchiha Itachi gave him a set of Sharingan eyes which he can and does use with no consequence to himself." Sarutobi replied. "Any other pertinent information?"

"Kumogakure has two jinchiruuki, Suna has one, the Kazekage's child contains the Shukaku demon which the plan on using in the attack. Iwa's been up to some sneaky shit but I haven't gotten too much info on them and that's really it."

"Thank you Jiraiya-kun. But that's all you found out in the last twelve years?" Sarutobi asked raising an eyebrow at his student.

"Pretty much, all that info on Orochimaru took quite a bit, and writing Icha Icha as well as enjoying the pleasures of the flesh took up a little bit of time." Jiraiya replied grinning, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well as of today you're twelve year vacation is over. You will not join the active duty ranks, but instead be groomed on how to become the next Hokage. The Council won't put up much of a fight, nearly all the devious ones were executed so it won't be a problem. Embrace your destiny Godaime-dono."

"Fuck you sensei, you stupid old geezer." Jiraiya responded playfully. Sarutobi grinned and the student and master stood up before embracing in a hug.

"I've missed you too, Jiraiya-kun."

V

"She's a Kumo kunoichi who was trailing us. Apparently Zabuza was her target and she hoped to get info out of us." Naruto replied sarcastically.

"Nice, how did she ended up all tied up?" Sasuke asked.

"We fought, she lost. Simple enough for you?"

Sasuke winced at the tone of voice. "Any useful information, or did you fuck that up?" Sasuke replied bitterly.

"No, actually I found out she's a jinchiruuki, container of the Nibi no Nekomata. After some torture we found out she's the daughter of the Yondaime Raikage, and that there's another jinchiruuki, apparently the Godaime Raikage's brother is one and they've joined forces with Iwa to destroy Konoha soon enough. I guess they haven't forgotten the Third Shinobi War."

"Hn."

"Please don't kill me." Yugito begged, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Are you going to kill her?"

"Can't. I did fuck up a Tsukyomi and something happened that linked us together emotionally, Kyuubi's warning that if I kill her, there could be negative repercussions on myself due to the link."

"Great… So how do we stop the link?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't know yet. Sasuke, let's go outside for a second." Naruto offered.

The shunshined out of there. The two of them stood outside, glaring at the other. "I'm really sorry Sasuke about before. All night I've dreamed about you killing me and it's made me paranoid and I've taken it out on you when I should have talked about it."

Sasuke accepted the meager apology with a grunt.

"I also dreamed that we're not completely out of danger in regards to Gatou, so please be on your guard."

Sasuke nodded. "Hai. What do we do with the kunoichi?"

"We're going to have to bring her back with us to Konoha until they stop whatever it is that links us. She saw my memories Sasuke, the ones I hid, she read my emotions and has projected her thoughts into my head. The worst part about it is that I can do the same, the link is what caused me to find out about Iwa's plan, and I saw her memories."

"Well you had a better day than I did. I watched Tazuna for a bit, but they're waiting for a shipment to get in from Konoha, apparently someone destroyed some of their supplies vital to the building of the bridge."

"So we're going to be stuck here a bit longer?"

"From what Tazuna said, the supplies won't get here for another two weeks, that leaves us two months to train for the Chuunin Exams." Sasuke explained.

"Fuck it, Nami isn't too bad. It'll be like vacation once we take out Gatou, I really want to kill that guy for some reason." Naruto smirked.

"You think Zabuza will be back?" Sasuke asked, staring into his best friends green eyes.

Bloodlust tainted the air.

Blood flew into the air as Naruto suddenly found himself impaled by a large zanpatou. Eyes rolling into the back of his head, Naruto blacked out.

Cold, dark brown eyes stared into Sasuke. "He took my purpose away, so now I shall take yours." The stranger spoke, forming a set of hand seals.

In front of Sasuke stood the hunter nin that had snatched up Zabuza's body. Before he could react and grab Naruto, there was a cruel cold breeze and a dome of ice mirrors surrounded the three shinobi.

Sasuke roared at the thought of his best friend dead and blood red Sharingan eyes replaced his black ones. Clutching a kunai, he charged at the Kirin in, ready to take his life.

"There is no chance of survival."

A/N: Sorry it took so long, but my muse has been an ass the last couple of weeks. Please be kind and review if you feel like it. Until next time…


	8. Battle for Nami no Kuni

_**Requiem of a Demon**_

_**Chapter 8:**_

_**The Battle for Nami no Kuni**_

A/N: Sorry for the delay… Pairings are as goes, this fic is officially a Naruto/Yugito pairing with maybe some hints of Naru/Ino in the future. Also, there won't be any lemons until their older, I'm not too fond of the idea of a twelve year old getting laid. Don't expect a lot of fluff as the romance between the jinchiruuki's won't be heavy, but more implied then actually spoken for the first fic. Also The Road will be a Naru/Tema/ Anko triangle in the sequel. I can't wait to finish that one so I can start my new fic called "A Boy and His Master." But details will be slim on that one for now.

I

Using his peripherals, Sasuke looked over at his best friend and saw how bad in a state he was. The zanpatou had impaled him right through his kidneys and penetrated through the other side, leaving Naruto a useless, broken puppet on the ground, staining the dirt red with spilt blood. Glaring at the feminine boy in front of him with blood red eyes, Sasuke spoke, "Why have you attacked us?"

The faux hunter nin stared at him with cold, lifeless orbs. Lips curling into a sneer, the boy replied, "It is of little relevance, there is no escape from here Leaf-san." Sending chakra to his feet, the boy blurred from view and reappeared in front of Sasuke landing a viscous punch that rocked Sasuke's jaw, sending him tumbling backwards. Sasuke crashed hard against one of the ice mirrors behind him with a thump, sending rivulets of pain ricocheting up his spine.

The Kiri nin stepped away from Sasuke and disappeared into one of the mirrors. "What the fuck?" Sasuke bit out in surprise. "It must be a Kekkei Genkai." Sasuke concluded as he looked up at all the mirrors where the nin appeared in each one. "How am I supposed to decipher to which one is which?" Sasuke fumed, staring at each visage with his Sharingan eyes but each mirror was flooding with chakra and he wasn't able to tell the real from fake.

Suddenly the clones began to move, speeding quickly from mirror to mirror and Sasuke had a gut feeling that he should move. On instinct Sasuke jumped out of the way, spinning around to face behind him and saw the Kiri nin had jumped out of the mirror behind him, kunai in hand. He had been close to death had he not reacted on instinct and moved.

"If you are to kill us as you say, the least you should do is introduce yourself." Sasuke demanded, hoping to stall for time.

"I am Haku, nuke-nin of Kiri and assistant and aid to Zabuza-sama." The feminine boy spoke with an air of disgust. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized who he was, he was the hunter nin who had disappeared with Zabuza's body. The realization came at a bad time as Sasuke had a split second to dodge the kunai that came within inches of his face.

Even as he dodge with a front flipped, Haku sprinted towards him with a speed that rivaled Naruto's as he leaped up to meet Sasuke, landing another punch to Sasuke's solar plexus, sending him crashing back down to the dirt with a hard thud. Naruto was still out, Sasuke realized as the wound slowly started to regenerate. But it might be some time before he could even move, let alone take a part in the fight. Sasuke had to hold the fort down by himself.

Bouncing back on his feet, Sasuke sped through a set of hand seals, leaning back, gathering chakra in his lungs. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke called out, leaning forward and blowing several mid sized fireballs at the teen. It was to no avail though, as Haku used his flexibility to gracefully avoid the fireballs, leaping in between them and crossing the distance between him and Sasuke and swinging his large zanpatou.

"Hyouton."

Ice release… Sasuke though, and suddenly the zanpatou was covered in ice, starting from the handle up to the tip of the blade and he had little time to bring up his own feeble kunai to block the zanpatou from slicing his jugular. There was a resonating clang, and the sheer strength of it send shivers down Sasuke's arms as he pushed up on the kunai, trying to prevent the blade from cleaving his head. "Give up." Haku growled out, wasting little energy as his foot shot out rapidly and kicked Sasuke in the stomach sending him flying backwards again.

Sasuke began thinking rapidly, trying to formulate a plan on how to defeat the stronger teen, who obviously had a superb kekkei genkai that allowed him to use and manipulate ice to the extent where he didn't even need to be near a water source to use.

Rather than starting a taijutsu battle with the Uchiha, Haku leaped back into the mirrors and began speeding around him at a speed that was nearly impossible for Sasuke's Sharingan to decipher. Suddenly Haku started to leap out of one of the mirrors to launch a storm of senbon at him and Sasuke ran through another set of hand seals before yelling out, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke blew out a large fireball that nearly encompassed the other side of the ice dome.

Haku was too fast though and moved out of the way hastily, before going through a set of one handed hand seals himself. "Hyouton: Sensatsu Suishō!" Haku spat out, gathering up water from the air and the ice dome, condensing it and forming it into a thousand frozen needles, before launching it at Sasuke.

Speeding through his own set of hand seals, Sasuke yelled out, "Katon: Houka Kabe no Jutsu!" After calling the jutsu out, he gathered up chakra in his hands and slammed them to the ground, and suddenly a wall of flames shot up from the dirt to deflect the thousand needles, melting them away. But he wasn't fast enough, as he dropped his guard temporarily, and Haku used it to his advantage to leap out from on of the mirrors behind him and launch a flurry of senbon.

Sasuke bit back a scream as the senbon struck home, some digging deep into his legs and some into his back. Tears welled up in his eyes as excruciating pain rocked his body, and he stumbled for a second before falling face first. Looking over at his fallen best friend, Sasuke allowed the tears that were welled in his eyes to fall, sliding clumsily down his cheek.

Despite how hard he trained, he still had failed. Blood red eyes reverting back to their normal black, the tears continued to fall. At least Naruto had an excuse, he thought, Haku had given him a cheap shot. Me on the other hand, had fought with everything and still lost.

Swallowing a sob, Sasuke fought to stand up, the pain unbearable as he reached behind him and pulled on the senbon, ripping them out of his body, blood tainting the air with its metallic smell. "It's futile, give up now." Haku demanded, walking over to Sasuke and giving him a harsh kick to his ribs.

"I can't… until there's no breath left in my body, I can never give up." Sasuke growled out, receiving another kick and whimpering in pain.

"Why do you continue to fight when you're outclassed?" Haku asked, pulling his zanpatou out of his scabbard and pressing it against Sasuke's neck.

"Because he wouldn't…" Sasuke spoke, staring at his fallen best friend. "So I can't…"

"You fool…" Haku said, laughing cruelly, before gripping the lapels of Sasuke's shirt and lifting the boy up off the ground.

"A fool I am, and until I die, I'm not going to stop protecting those who are important to me, even if it means being a fool to my grave." Sasuke replied, coughing slightly, as his body was racked with pain from the battle.

"What about me? You bastards took my reason for living, the one I swore to protect and now he's gone." Haku demanded, before tossing Sasuke to the floor. "You're weak, too weak to protect your friend, just as I was too weak to protect Zabuza. But fate has given me the chance to rectify that mistake and the mission Zabuza could not finish, I will." Haku bit out angrily, before a sandaled foot kicked out and slammed against Sasuke's face, snapping his face backwards. "I will kill that drunken bridge builder and the rest of your team when I'm done."

Memories of the times he spent with Naruto and the rest of Team Seven tore into his mind. "I can't let you do that." Sasuke snapped angrily, standing up to his feet.

"How do you plan on stopping me, your nearly out of chakra?" Haku asked, allowing a small smirk to grace his face.

Sasuke formed a ram seal with both hands, before sending his chakra flaring up in a spiral around him, making it visible and sending the senbon stuck to him flying off him. "I might not have enough chakra to outlast you, but I don't need to. I just need enough to keep you busy until help comes." Sasuke replied, realizing that he shouldn't use any Sharingan techniques. But he didn't have enough for the A-ranked Katon: Housenka Ryuudan no Jutsu, which would possibly stop Haku, but at the moment irrelevant. Even if he attempted and gave his life up to do it, chances were the technique wouldn't even work. He would gladly give up his life to take Haku out, but the Housenka Ryuudan just wasn't possible.

Watching his opponent carefully, Sasuke spoke again. "You can't have too much chakra yourself, you've used several Hyouton techniques as well as this ice prison takes lots of chakra to maintain."

Haku glared at him, panting slightly. Sasuke had a very good point as Haku had already used up nearly half of his chakra fighting against Sasuke. "It's enough to take you out…" he shot back, grinning as he slid into an offensive stance, ready to impale Sasuke with the Kubikiri Houchou.

"I guess I'll just have to kill you with taijutsu only." Sasuke replied with a small smirk of his own, feigning arrogance to cover up his fear.

"Not a chance." Haku said, snarling as he sprinted towards the Uchiha.

Reaching behind him, Sasuke pulled out a scrolled and bit his thumb, leaping into the air as he unfurled it, swiping his bloody thumb across the scroll as several Windmill Shuriken popped out, attached to ninja wire. Still in midair, Sasuke launched the first shuriken, watching as it whizzed towards Haku.

Unable to see the invisible wire, Haku blocked it with his zanpatou, but Sasuke maneuvered the shuriken to whip around the blade, before yanking it out of the teen's grasp. Suddenly Haku found himself without the head cleaver and with two more shuriken heading towards him. If he didn't react, they would easily cleave him in half and decapitate him.

Sasuke smirked, realizing that Haku was caught in the trap. Haku's eyes widened, but not before he applied chakra to his feet and leaping back into one of his ice mirrors. Haku began moving through the mirrors at high speed again and out of Sasuke's visible sight. Sasuke closed his eyes and leaped in the air in a graceful back flip, kicking Haku hard across the face as he leapt out of the mirrors, sending the faux Hunter nin crashing to the deck harshly.

Not giving him time to react, Sasuke landed nimbly and leapt at the boy, catching him off guard with a severe spinning heel kick to the boy's jaw, bruising his face and busting his lip. Blood flew from Haku's mouth and before he could land, Sasuke already spun in the air and landed an over head punch to the top of Haku's head, snapping his face forward into Sasuke's raised knee.

Haku's nose broke with a wet snap, and Sasuke did not relent, sweeping Haku's leg from underneath him with a quick leg sweep, and quickly grabbing a kunai and reaching out to stab him in the heart but Haku intercepted with his own kunai, before kicking Sasuke away from him. "How the fuck did you catch me while I was in the mirrors without the Sharingan?" Haku demanded, panting from exertion.

"While I was using the Sharingan, I noticed that you attack from the mirrors in a certain pattern, over and over again. Once I memorized the pattern, it wasn't hard to predict where you'd attack from next." Sasuke puffed out, his exhausted body ready to fail him at any second. Launching himself at Haku again, he realized this would be his last attack.

Haku saw him coming and aimed a high kick to Sasuke's face, but it missed as Sasuke ducked low and kicked Haku in the chin, sending him flying up in the air. Running through a set of hand seals, Sasuke yelled his last attack, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Haku's eyes widened in frightfully as a hot fireball came shooting up at him.

In his last ditch effort, Haku gathered up as much chakra as he could muster to form an ice shield around him. The fireball crashed into the ice shield and wouldn't relent, as it tried to melt the shield. Haku screamed as his body was engulfed in flames, the shield melting away. But the pain was momentarily as the fireball was put out forcefully.

Smiling to himself, Sasuke fell over unconscious, hitting the ground face first.

Haku landed, his body racked with pain as his nerves were searing from the heat. Letting out an angry yell, he gripped the Kubikiri Houchou and was ready to cut off Sasuke's head when something intercepted him and Haku found himself staring into a set of angry neon green eyes.

"I don't fucking think so…"

Haku bit out a scream as a viscous punch slammed into his stomach, nearly causing him to vomit.

"Because you hurt Sasuke, I'll never forgive you… Today, you die motherfucker!" Naruto yelled, letting out a beastly roar as his chakra surged through his body.

II

"Let me go, teme." Yugito growled out to Kakashi and Kiba, straining against her bounds. "When I get out of here, I swear I'm going to make you leaf-nin pay, I'm the daughter of the Sandaime Raikage!" Yugito said, snarling.

"Kunoichi-san, please do not mistake me to be as patient as my student Naruto. Your life is being held on a whim right now, if it weren't for the so called bond you and Naruto formed during his fucked up genjutsu, you'd be dead already. The only reason you're even alive is because of him, that and I don't want to risk hurting him by killing you. Currently you hold information of SS-ranked knowledge which would be enough for me to take a kunai and cut your jugular clean. So until we get back to Konoha and find out the extent of the bond you and my charge share, I suggest you keep your mouth closed." Hatake Kakashi bit out cruelly, masking his concern with an air of indifference.

Yugito glared at him, but before she could respond she let out a guttural scream. "Sensei, what the hell's wrong with her?" Kiba asked, as Akamaru quickly hid within the boy's parka.

"I don't…" Kakashi was interrupted by Yugito.

"Naruto… he's in trouble." Yugito whispered, opening her jade, slanted eyes and boring them into Kakashi's.

"What do you mean he's in trouble?" Kiba asked, baring his fangs at the vessel for the Nekomata.

"He's hurt… I can feel it, he needs help." Yugito replied, her eyes falling downcast.

Kakashi looked at her skeptically. "Kiba, look after Yugito here while I go check up on Sasuke and Naruto. If she moves, incapacitate her immediately without hesitation, but try not to kill her." Kakashi ordered the Inuzuka.

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei." Kiba responded, nodding as he pulled out a kunai and stood over the jinchiruuki.

Giving one last glance at Yugito and Kiba, Kakashi disappeared via the Konoha-shun shin.

"Don't think I won't hesitate to kill you if you move." Kiba growled out and Akamaru poked his head out to bark in agreement.

Yugito glared at the boy but did not reply.

Kakashi sprinted outside, taking in his environment and scanning the area for enemies. Up ahead he saw a frozen dome of ice in the middle of the forest clearing. Eyebrows furrowed, he started charging forward when two nin jumped out of a puddle, each holding an end of a spiked chain as they ran through Kakashi, slicing him in half.

Or so they thought as 'Kakashi' bursted into smoke and revealed a sliced up log. "You must not know who I am, I'm Kakashi of the Sharingan, also known as the Copy Ninja and owner of over a thousand jutsus. It is unwise for you to attack me." Kakashi called out, masking his concern for his students with an air of bravado to intimidate the two Kiri nin.

"We don't care who you are Kakashi-san, we are Meizu and Gozu, known as the Demon Brothers of the Mist." The first one spoke, which Kakashi assumed was Meizu.

"You and your genin killed Zabuza-sama and ruined our plans to take Kirigakure over, so for that you have to pay." Gozu shouted, charging in with his partner, ready to cleave through Kakashi again.

Kakashi leaped out from a set of trees, launching a set of kunai at the duo. The kunai whizzed by their faces, but they easily ducked underneath them and the kunai found themselves buried into the soft dirt. "You really should fear the Sharingan, bakas." Kakashi replied, pulling up on the edge of the hitai-ate that covered his eye.

"Not us." Gozu replied and they launched their chain at Kakashi, smiling cruelly as it whipped around them, the spikes burying themselves into his skin. "The chain's poisoned by the way." Dozu called out arrogantly and to his surprise Kakashi smirked.

"I know." Kakashi responded, before bursting into smoke.

"Kage Bunshin…" Meizu was interrupted as Kakashi appeared behind him, his kunai slicing through his jugular cleanly. Blood squirted into the air as the life substance started leaving him and Meizu stumbled for a second, and then fell over dead.

"Meizu!" Dozu screamed towards his fallen comrade, before turning to Kakashi. "You were one of the kunai?" Dozu asked incredulously.

"Yeah, while I hid in the trees I created two Kage Bunshin and henged myself and one of them into kunai and purposely missed to get behind you." Kakashi bragged.

"Smart move, but now you die." Dozu spat, snarling at the elite jounin.

"And you know what the fucked up part is?" Kakashi continued. Seeing Dozu's incredulous look, he continued. "I'm another bunshin, baka."

Dozu didn't have time to scream as a kunai was rammed into the back of his brain, and he too breathed his last.

III

Weary from work and old age, Tazuna stepped inside his house and saw one of the leaf-nin hovering over a tightly bound female, kunai in hand. God, he needed a drink. "What's going on?" Tazuna asked quietly. Kiba gave the old bridge builder a morose look, looking almost as if he was wondering on how to answer the question.

"She's a kunoichi from Kumo who attacked Naruto during training, so where taking her back to Konoha after the completion of the mission for interrogation." Kiba replied honestly, giving the female nin a sideways glare.

"Roger… Do you know if Tsunami finished cooking?" Tazuna asked, his stomach rumbling in hunger.

"Last time I checked, she was almost done." Kiba responded, before grabbing a seat and pulling it in front of the kunoichi.

Shinobi… Tazuna thought darkly.

Stepping into the dining room, he saw his daughter Tsunami setting up plates for their supper. "Rice, fish, and red bean soup, smells good. Ah, and you got some dango and sake to go with it, you are a dear Tsunami-chan." Tazuna called out affectionately.

Tsunami smiled and gave her father a hug. "Yeah, but we have to wait for Naruto and the others to return, I don't want to start supper without them, tou-san." Tsunami replied off handedly.

"Nonsense. They're ninja for crying out loud, to them a good meal consists of berries and whatever they can find in a forest. They're probably out there training and doing important stuff, they can just heat it up when they get back." Tazuna said cheekily.

"We do not eat berries…" Kiba called out from the guest room.

"Where's Inari at?" Tazuna asked, seeing as it was abnormally quiet without his grandson in the room.

"He's probably in his room like usual, you know how he's like." Tsunami replied, before dishing out the food on each plate. Tazuna took a seat at the head of the table and grabbed the jug of sake, pouring himself a cup.

"Tou-san, you should cut down you know."

"Never." Tazuna replied, bringing up the cup to his lips.

There was a sound of heavy thudding down the steps and Tazuna turned his head to see his beaming grandson flying at him. "Jiji!" Inari cried out, hugging him.

"Inari-kun, how are you boy?" Tazuna asked.

"Hungry…" Inari joked cheekily, upon feasting his eyes on the food.

Tazuna smirked, then called out to Kiba, "Kiba-kun, come here for some dinner, you can even bring the girl."

"Hai, Tazuna-san." Kiba shot back, as he grabbed Yugito by the elbow and lifted her up, leading her to the dining room. Kiba sat Yugito down, then sat down next to her, keeping one hand on his kunai incase she did attempt something.

"Where is the rest of your team?" Tazuna asked the feral boy.

"Meh, they're probably out there training. According to kunoichi-san over here, Naruto's supposedly in trouble so I'm stuck on guard duty until they return." Kiba replied, before folding his hands together. "Itadakimasu." Kiba said politely, and they began eating.

IV

Kakashi stared at the ice prison that most likely held his students inside. Using his Sharingan, he saw how chakra was constantly flowing through the dome, maintaining whatever jutsu inside effective. But who the hell had a Hyouton jutsu nowadays, it wasn't even heard of often, it only popped up in places like…

Kiri…

Zabuza…

Instantly knowing his students were in danger, he inspected the ice dome for a way in. He had to enter by brute force. Running through three quick hand seals, he charged up a Raikiri in one hand and launched himself at the ice prison, ready to destroy his way in but the jutsu fizzled out upon contact. "Kuso." Kakashi cursed.

As he began to formulate a plan, he heard hysterical yelling behind him, and saw a small army tearing through the village, precisely on their way to Tazuna's house. "Gatou…" He had to intercept them, there was no if and or buts, Tazuna, Tsunami, Kiba and that Kumo jinchiruuki were there.

Looking back at the prison of ice, he hoped to God that Naruto and Sasuke were winning against Zabuza or whatever foe was in there.

V

Haku didn't even have time to recover from the last punch as the blond genin charged again, launching himself in the air and bringing his fist down in a vicious punch. Using his speed and agility, Haku barely sidestepped in time and swung his own fist out, catching the blonde nin by surprise as Haku's fist slammed into his face, snapping his head back.

The boy shrugged it off and ducked another Haku's next blow and rammed his knee into Haku's gut, then as Haku doubled over, Naruto grabbed Haku by the back of his over shirt, before tossing him into a mirror, sending torrents of pain crashing into Haku's spine. Haku didn't have time to react as Naruto was already in front of him, leg cocked back, before bringing it forward with such speed and force into Haku's face, snapping his head back into the ice prison.

Eyes half closed through heavy lids, he dimly noted the soft, cool sensation of blood running down the nape of his neck. Tired and beaten into exhaustion, he didn't bother to move, even as another kick was aimed at his face, colliding with him with such force and demonic cruelty that Haku's eyes rolled up into the back of his head, his jaw sore and stiff, his teeth ringing incessantly. "For what you did to me and Sasuke, I will kill you…" Naruto whispered, his voice calm with a note of finality, letting Haku know that he didn't have a choice or say in the matter.

Grasping Haku by the hem of his shirt, he lifted the taller boy as high as he could, staring into his eyes with cold green eyes. "You nearly killed me and Sasuke… I can't forgive you for that." Naruto growled out, before launching Haku across the other side of the room, slamming him into another set of mirrors painfully.

Naruto ran through a set of hand seals before unleashing his jutsu. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu." Naruto cried out before blowing out several small fireballs at Haku. Haku's eyes widened, before he turned and leaped into the mirror, smirking to himself as the fireballs bounced off harmlessly.

Tired and exhausted, it didn't stop Haku from running around the mirrors in an attempt to confuse Naruto. "Fuck this." Naruto growled out, before holding out his hand and focusing chakra to it, forming a small dome of chakra, encased around his hand. Applying chakra to his feet, Naruto sprinted at the wall, disappearing in a flash of black and yellow as he ran up the ice mirrors and slammed his chakra empowered fist into the mirror he thought Haku was in.

Seeing as he'd been caught, Haku leaped to the other mirror as the other one crashed, bursting into hundreds of shards. "He's strong enough to break my mirrors in a punch…" Haku said to himself, before running through the mirrors again and appearing above Naruto, ready to stab him in the back when the genin turned around, parrying the kunai with his own and bringing his foot up into Haku's stomach, sending him flying over his head and crashing face first to the floor.

Haku stood up, pain racking his body. "How?" he demanded to the genin, "How can you break my mirrors, and how can you even see me to the point where you're tracking me?" Haku demanded coldly. There was just no way anyone could see him to that extent when he was using his kekkei genkai.

Naruto lifted up his hands and formed a ram seal. "Kai." He whispered and his green eyes were no longer green, but blood red with two tomes spinning in each eye. "I've been using a henge to cover them up. With these eyes I can track all your movements, even in the mirrors. And the reason I can break your mirrors is because the mirror you're in is your weakest point in the dome. By reading the chakra, I can see that you have to expend lots of chakra to keep each mirror up, plus there's a shield of chakra constantly protecting the mirrors, but when you land in that mirror, it disrupts the shield temporarily, leaving it vulnerable to chakra based attacks." Naruto lectured sarcastically, only to raise the Kiri nuke nin's ire.

"It's of little consequence, you're going to die here Naruto-san. I can never forgive you for killing Zabuza–sama, you took away my purpose, so I'll just have to take yours." Haku cried out, pulling his zanpatou

"Zabuza got what he had coming to him, he tried to kill an innocent bridge builder and a team of genin trying to protect him. All we wanted to do was restore Nami no Kuni to its former glory and you and your master threatened that. We are shinobi, we do as we must without regrets." Naruto replied, pulling out a kunai, and taking an offensive stance.

"You took my purpose…" Haku shot back, his eyes welling up before he could clench them shut.

"And now I'll take your life too." Naruto replied, disappearing in a black blur, before reappearing in front of Haku and avoiding the zanpatou with a graceful sidestep. His kunai came up, intent on slicing Haku's throat but the Hyouton user grabbed Naruto's left arm tightly in a vice grip, holding him in place.

"It doesn't matter if you do, as long as I take yours as well." Haku said, an ugly snarl marring his feminine face. Naruto tried pulling away from the older teen, but Haku's foot shot out and smashed into his stomach, doubling him over. As he pulled up he noticed Haku going through a set of one handed hand seals. "Hyouton: Sensatsu Suishō!" Haku yelled, as the precipitation from the ice formed a thousand needles above them, ready to impale Naruto.

Acting on instinct, he formed the cross seal with one hand. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto shouted out as a single clone bursting into existence with a small poof of smoke.

The frozen needles came flying down and collided into Naruto. There was another burst of smoke and Haku realized it was the Kage Bunshin that had been decimated by his attack. Naruto must have used the Kawarimi to substitute himself with it. Turning his head sideways to see him it was too late, as Naruto cocked his fist back and slammed it into Haku's jaw, sending him ricocheting against the mirrors.

Sasuke needs help…Naruto thought faithfully, as he looked over at his fallen comrade. The longer they spent in the prison of ice, the worse it could be for Sasuke.

Leaping backwards away from Haku, he concentrated chakra to the balls of his feet before taking off, fist cocked back, ready to take Haku's head off. Haku's eyes widened seeing the blonde genin rushing towards him at a speed greater than his own and did the only thing his brain told him to do.

He jumped, lifting off the ground with a boost of chakra, watching as Naruto crashed into the mirror.

There was a large explosion as shard of ice imploded upon themselves, spraying the air before dissipating.

VI

Just as their meal began, an explosion rocked the room and Kiba stood on his feet, kunai in tow. Tsunami and Inari screamed, and Tazuna jumped to his feet, hugging his family, hoping to shield them from attack. "Tazuna-teme, get out here." A voice called out greasily.

"That's Gatou…" Tazuna cried out fearfully.

"No…Jiji, not you too." Inari yelled, locking his arms around his grandfather's leg.

Sending chakra to his nose, Kiba took a whiff of all the scents outside. Akamaru barked out to his master, who nodded sadly. "There's a small army out there hunting for your blood. Fortunately their not strong." Kiba said, turning to Tazuna whose eyes were wide with fright.

"How many?" Tazuna asked.

"At least one hundred bandits or so." Kiba said and Tazuna's face fell in dismay. Kiba turned to the kunoichi next to him. "Help me with them." Kiba said pleadingly.

Nii Yugito gave the genin a glare through slanted eyes. "Why the hell should I?"

Kiba growled and lifted the kunoichi up out of her feet angrily. "Because if I die, you do too. You think they're going to spare you. What do you think guys like Gatou do to tied and bound women? At least by helping, it should save you from immediate death when we return to Konohagakure." Kiba shot back, slamming her harshly against the wall.

"Untie me then." Yugito said flatly. Kiba complied, cutting her bindings and removing all the bomb seals Naruto had laid earlier.

He turned his back to her for a second which gave her enough time to put a kunai to her neck. "Don't ever touch me again dog boy, nor take that tone of voice with me you fucking upstart." Yugito snapped, before pushing the young Inuzuka.

"Stay here." Kiba addressed the bridge builder and his family.

"You ready dog breath?" Yugito asked.

Rather than argue, he gave the Kumo kunoichi a nod. The two headed outside and saw the incoming army. "Kuso." Kiba cursed. While one hundred bandits wouldn't be threatening to a seasoned shinobi, to one as inexperienced as Kiba, it was a lot. Not to mention, he'd never killed a man before and it looked like he was going to have his cherry popped today.

"Ninpou: Beast Mimicry." Kiba shouted as his body took more animalistic features. Sending some chakra to Akamaru, the puppy slid out of his parka and formed a picture perfect clone of him.

Yugito was going through a transformation of her own as demonic chakra flooded her tenketsus. Crouched on all fours, a shroud of blue flames surrounded her, adding more to her catlike appearance. Kiba watched in amazement as a single tail of chakra bursted from her rear end, swishing about.

What happened next was anarchic pandemonium as the two nin partook in violence unheard of in Nami no Kuni. The three rushed in, Kiba and Akamaru spinning in midair utilizing Gatsuuga, colliding into the army, scattering the enemy and striking down a few bandits.

Yugito charged at them as well, launching balls of fire indiscriminately, burning through them, killing several of them instantly, before leaping into a crowd of them and slashing through throats. Akamaru took hold of one bandit and bit into his throat, ripping his trachea uncharacteristically, blood and flesh seeping from his mouth. Ignoring his stomach and focusing on the task at hand, Kiba ran through a set of hand seals before yelling out, "Fūton: Renkūdan!" Kiba finished, blowing out a small, condensed ball of chakra at his attackers.

Had they been ninja, it might have been easy to avoid, if not survive the attacks, but they were not, and they began to fall, quite easily. "Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu." Kiba yelled, and another ten bandits were destroyed as wind tore into them, cutting into their clothes, before killing them.

Yugito let loose on the remaining bandits, unleashing her wrath and fury, her pent up frustrations making her attacks stronger and deadlier until there was only Gatou left. No longer needing the Nibi, she cut off the chakra from the bijuu and stood up on two feet, back to normal.

"You should have never come to Nami." Kiba growled out to Gatou. The fat, pudgy man began backing up in fear seeing as his small army had been decimated by two shinobi and a puppy.

"Who the fuck are you people?" He demanded fearfully.

"Who are you to come into Nami, and enslave the people, slaughter their heroes?" Kiba demanded, as tears welled in his eyes. During dinner, Tazuna had told him several stories of the terror Nami had withstood under Gatou's reign. "How could you kill so many, rape so many and feel nothing." Kiba demanded angrily. Here he was a twelve year old boy, forced to defend a country from a madman, losing his innocence in the process.

Oddly enough, Yugito was quiet.

"Who gave you the right to take life so carelessly?"

"The strong conquer the weak, that's life kid." Gatou replied unapologetically.

Kiba bowed his head down, and let the tears flow freely. "You bastard… you fucking bastard." Kiba yelled, baring his teeth at the tyrant.

"It ends today…" Gatou shot back at him.

"That it does."

Before Gatou could run, he screamed and blood tainted the air once more as the fat man was lifted off his feet, a hand protruding from his chest, with lightning arcing all around him. "It ends right now." Kakashi spoke regretfully, his single visible eye closed in sorrow.

Gatou closed his eyes and breathed his last, and the lightning dissipated.

Nami was finally free.

VII

The prison of ice was destroyed, and Haku stumbled to the ground. Naruto formed another shadow clone and spoke softly, "Get him to Tazuna's." he commanded, before looking at the fallen teen.

The shadow clone grabbed Sasuke's fallen body, and hoisted him on his shoulder, before taking off.

Haku stood on his feet shakily, before launching himself at Naruto carelessly. Naruto avoided the kick that was aimed at his face, ducking under Haku's leg, before slapping his hands to the ground and doing a one handed handstand, kicking Haku across the face, snapping his face to the side ruthlessly. "Perhaps if Sasuke hadn't given you such trouble this fight would last a lot longer. But it didn't turn out the way you expected, and this fight will end soon, seeing as you're out of chakra and I got some to burn." Naruto spoke, landing gracefully, before landing a vicious uppercut.

"It doesn't matter. I don't care if I die." Haku shot back, spitting up blood as he talked. "You took the only thing in life that meant anything to me. You denied me of my purpose and took my only loved one. What do I have to live for?" Haku said tearfully.

For a second, Naruto had the decency to look ashamed of himself. "I'm a shinobi, it's what I get paid to do. I was hired to protect Tazuna from attacks so he could build a bridge and free his people from Gatou, a man your master worked for." Naruto spoke unapologetically. "Knowing what was going on in Nami, how could you even follow a man like that? A man who didn't care what he had to do to get money, even if it meant sacrificing a whole country to an evil man?" Naruto demanded, punching the boy in the face, and breaking his nose.

Haku stumbled back, his body numb from all the pain that had been inflicted on him. "Because he was the only man who cared. In my village, people with kekkei genkai's were killed and I had to hide, my parents were dead and I was just some street urchin. Zabuza-sama was the only one who cared, he fed me, trained me and gave me a purpose… to be his weapon, until one day when he could take back Kirigakure and become Mizukage." Haku explained, tears falling from his face.

"I understand your pain you know." Naruto replied, his own eyes welling up in empathy. "All I've know is pain and loneliness all my life. I'm a shinobi to an ungrateful village, a village that hated me all my life for something I had no control over. And for the longest all I wanted to do was become Hokage, so I could protect them from the very hurt that they delivered to me, but they shattered my dreams. Despite that my father was a Hokage himself, despite every tear I've cried, I've always been alone, until I met Sasuke, the very friend you hurt. So while I understand your pain, know this… I will never forgive for hurting my best friend Sasuke.

"Sasuke was just protecting me, the only person who ever really cared and never failed me. All he ever wanted to do was free this village, I'm the one who killed Zabuza, yet you found it necessary to nearly kill him, and for that reason only you'll die. Had you not attacked him, I would have spared you, but you did, and now it's too late for you." Naruto finished, taking off after the Kiri nin.

Haku felt the cool splash of tears hit his face and closed his eyes, accepting death. Memories tore into him, flashbacks of Zabuza taking care of him reminded him of his purpose and he opened his eyes, grabbing his zanpatou and swinging at the younger blond.

Naruto saw it coming and didn't care, jumping on top of the Kubikiri Houchou, his leg cocked back and then colliding into Haku's neck, sending them both falling sideways. Going through hand seals so fast, not even Haku could see, he leaned back and blew a fire ball at Haku, who used his remaining strength to form one last prison in front of him to encase himself in.

Naruto leaped backwards and began thinking of what to do. He had enough left for one shot, and he hoped this next jutsu would even work for him.

Ox, Hare, Monkey… Naruto thought as he went through the motion, opening his blood red eyes to stare at Haku with cold indifference.

Holding his right hand out and gripping it with his left, he willed his chakra to become lightning, sending it surging forward to his right hand. Delicately shaping it, he overdid it chakra wise and the attack blew up in his face, his flesh sizzling as lightning backfired on him.

Ox, Hare, Monkey…

Willing his chakra to become lightning, he sent it down to his hand, using all his focus on shape manipulation to make it take its shape. The lightning formed a sphere in his hand, as the rest of the lightning chakra shoot from it, shooting sparks. Letting go of his right hand, he looked at Haku with his blood red Sharingan eyes.

There was a feeling of being sucked into a vacuum as he charged forward, Chidori in hand. His chubby cheeks flapped backwards at the high speed it took to maintain the attack, the sensation of being sucked into the void continued and he let it pull without fight and he vanished from sight, appearing in front of Haku's mirror, Chidori cocked.

Haku's eyes widened in fright.

Naruto's tears splattered against the mirror.

Lightning sizzled against his hands, the very flesh on his hands burning against his will.

The Chidori exploded through the mirror as Naruto thrusted the attack and the mirrors shattered once more, and Naruto felt a splintering sensation as his hand broke through Haku's chest and out his spine.

Naruto screamed as a large zanpatou impaled him once more through his stomach all the way to the hilt.

Haku screamed as his chest was punched through, his brain didn't have the time to register the pain as the Chidori punched through his heart and out his back, but not before the thrusted the Kubikiri Houchou into the genin's stomach.

It is finished Zabuza-sama… Haku thought his final thought.

The blood no longer flowed through his body, his lungs couldn't draw breath, and his heart was longer existence. The brain wasn't receiving the right messages from the nerves, before it shut down.

Haku, apprentice and weapon of Momochi Zabuza was no more.

Ripping his arm from the body, he fell backwards.

Naruto stood up and pulled the zanpatou out and stumbled forward towards the body. Naruto kneeled to the floor and stared into the lifeless glazed brown eyes of Haku. "You dumb son of a bitch." Naruto cried out, tears flowing freely. Placing his hands on the dead boy's face, he slid his eyes closed, "Rest now Haku. Maybe in a different world we could have been friends." Naruto spoke tearfully, before letting out a pained sob. "Is this what my life will be as a shinobi?" Naruto said to himself, speaking out loud.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, clutching his stomach in pain before stumbling towards Tazuna's house, bleeding from the large puncture wound in his stomach. Using whatever chakra he had left, he sent it to his feet and made it to the bridge builder's house, before he too fell over, crashing face first into Tazuna's living room floor.

Sasuke… Naruto thought before the void of pitch black unconsciousness washed over him blissfully as blood leaked out of his body.

A/N Pt2: Please be kind and review. I enjoy them and reply readily to the readers who do review. This chapter has drained me emotionally and physically so please just leave a quick review, even if it is a flame. Also, how do you feel about the Naru/Yugi pairing in this fic?


	9. Whispers of War Pt One

REQUIEM OF A DEMON

CHAPTER NINE: WHISPERS OF WAR Part One

BY DANIEL NIEVES

AN: SORRY FOR THE WAIT, BUT WITH WORKING ON THE ROAD LESS TAKEN (EVEN IF IT'S NOT POPULAR) AND REDEMPTION AND A NEW STORY CALLED DAMNATION, REQUIEM WAS ON THE BACK BURNER. SO YOU'LL GET A 6000+ CHAPTER TO MAKE UP FOR IT.

I

NAMI NO KUNI

Jade green eyes opened groggily as sunlight filtered in through them, causing the twelve year old boy heavy discomfort. Now awake, he stood up to find that the hole in his gut had indeed repaired itself, thanks to the Kyuubi's regenerative powers. Sure he was hated, but he healed fast. It was a catch 22 if you'd ask him. Looking down at his bandaged hand, the stinging sensation he had felt as he charged up a second Chidori was gone.

The sheer power and chakra he had focused into it had been so powerful that it had fried the flesh of his hand. The pain had been so hot, it had been nearly tear jerking, but he had focused on saving Sasuke that he'd ignored it and killed Haku…

He had killed again.

He had charged up a fistful of lightning and rammed it into Haku's chest, sternum giving way to the sheer strength and speed he'd used as he battered his way in. He had not hesitated…he didn't remember much, he remember how angry he'd been, seething with white hot rage and took Haku's life without even touching the Kyuubi's chakra. What did it mean?

Was he a killer like the Kyuubi? Could he be cold and remorseless as he watched the life slip from someone's face? Was he truly the Kyuubi? He remembered Yugito's words… _**"I'm not the demon… I'm its vessel, there is a difference.**_"

Sighing, he stood up out of his bed with minimal difficulty and padded his way to the bathroom so he could take a quick piss. Sleeping for as long as he did probably didn't help. After relieving himself he flushed the toilet and headed back to the guest room where the rest of his teammates should be. Instead of his teammates, he found the silently snoring body of one Nii Yugito.

Naruto stared at her unabashedly. He really couldn't help himself, Yugito was that beautiful. Feline like eyes closed, a small smirk marred her sleeping face, blonde hair cascading over her chest, she was the epitome of what a woman should look. Breasts covered solely by the sheet she had covering her, but they did not cover her long, slender legs.

Dear God, why did his hormones choose to start kicking in now? A soft, musky smell tainted his nose for a second, and blood began to flow to areas he didn't want to begin to wrap his twelve year old mind around. "I should kill you for being such a perv…" Yugito stated calmly, musing him out of his thoughts.

Naruto's mouth opened and closed in a comical fish like imitation. "I wasn't being perverted." He clarified, "Besides, you couldn't kill me anyway, after all, you tried." Naruto continued, nearly smirking when he saw a disdainful smile mar Yugito's features.

Suddenly she began to smile catlike as a plan must have suddenly inspired her. "You're not a pervert Naruto? Shame…" she spoke softly, as he slowly spread her gorgeous legs, parting them slightly to give the younger blonde a look.

Unable to control his eyes, they slowly moved from her legs and up her calves to what he secretly wanted to see. But she denied access as she clenched her legs together. "Come here Naruto." She whispered, beckoning him with her voice.

His legs moved independently of his mind and slowly walked towards the feline goddess. She slowly shifted herself as she got on her knees, sheets still wrapped around her chest, but Naruto still saw the swell as she breathed.

He decided right there and then that despite his disdain for the jinchiruuki, she was remarkably and amusingly attractive. Fuck attractive, she was gorgeous, she was hot, she embodied what sexy should be. He liked her body…

He did not like the hook that came afterwards when he was within kissing distance of her. "Hentai!" she screamed as her knuckles crashed into his face, sending him flying backwards a few feet.

Naruto got up shakily before giving her one last hard look. "Fucking bitch." He growled out, two tomoed Sharingan blazing to life. He disappeared via shunshin ready to find his friends.

II

Yugito shivered as she watched the boy leave. She utterly aroused and genuinely terrified at the same time. Spiky blonde hair and neon green eyes that shifted to a blood red and black void of death in a split second. He had a muscular whipcord body, with a haunting smile and whiskered cheeks to boot.

Yugito definitely wasn't into BDSM but the very idea of him roughing her up was… not as disgusting as she should be finding it. Perhaps it was the Nibi inside of her being submissive to the jailor of the Kyuubi? Dismissing such thoughts, she duly noted that the sheets her soaked, proof of her arousal.

She had felt it, tangibly as he had stepped in the room and began peering at her with those pale green eyes of him. Despite the fact that she had been asleep, her heart pace began quickening and her womanhood searing in heat. The bond that connected to him flustered her, like an unseen chakra string connecting the two where she was on the receiving end. She had felt his curiosity, his arousal at the sight of her when she had tempted him with a small peek and his subsequent shutdown and dismissal of her.

The connection between them had shut off so quickly that it made her wonder, just exactly had happened to him that could allow to completely devoid himself of all emotion in a heartbeat? But then again, she already knew, his Tsukyomi had revealed that much to her, even if it had been briefly, she had seen much of his childhood.

It had scarred and traumatized her to think that a village could do that much to a boy, shunning him would have been a blessing… but to savagely beat him and nearly kill him for harboring something he had control over was despicable.

The worst part was that right now, her possible return to Kumogakure was bleak. Not only was she connected to the blonde jinchiruuki, but now she had several S-ranked secrets that were enough to assassinate her over.

She knew that he was a jinchiruuki of the Kyuubi and son of the Kiiroi Senkou. The Yondaime Hokage, a man who'd been feared all around the Great Five Nations, had fathered the poor orphan. He had been legendary, marked with a flee on sight order from the Raikage as well as the Tsuchikage due to his deadly Hiraishin.

What the fuck had she gotten herself into?

Hachi Kira will be pissed, she mused before lying back in bed and letting her eyes close as sleep claimed her once again.

III

Jiraiya looked over at the aging Sandaime and offered him the sake saucer. "Hey, you old geezer, are you sure you want me to be the Godaime?" Jiraiya asked his sensei, who was sitting comfortably on his chair, puffing away at a pipe.

"For the last fucking time Jiraiya-kun, you will be the Godaime, no one else is better suited for the job, not even Hatake-san." Sarutobi Hiruzen replied sharply. Ever since he announced that Jiraiya would be taking his place, his perverted student had been annoying him repeatedly to pick another successor.

"I'm just saying it's kinda hard to follow up after you and Minato, the Kami no Shinobi and the Konoha no Kiiroi Senko. What about that old fart Danzou?" Jiraiya replied jokingly, much to his sensei's ire.

"That old coot… as if, I would never help him become Hokage, I'd rather give the position to Orochimaru." Sarutobi said, snorting, finding the very idea of it hysterical.

"That's not very nice Hokage-sama…" a withered voice spoke as someone stepped into the room.

Jiraiya turned to see who had stepped in and his eyes got wide as saucers. "Speak of the devil." Jiraiya replied, laughing mirthfully. The old war hawk known as Danzou stepped into the room, cane in hand as he hobbled towards the Sandaime and future Godaime.

"What do you want Danzou?" Sarutobi bit off, not ready to deal with his old rival.

"I would like for you to reconsider the nomination for Godaime and give it to someone more qualified, someone like myself whose interests are to solely benefit the village rather than one's own pleasure." Danzou growled out, one eye glaring at Jiraiya.

"Request denied, Jiraiya-kun will be the Godaime, simple as that. Despite the fact that I had sentenced you to prison for life without parole, the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni decided to pardon you. I will not, a guilty criminal will not become Hokage while I live. How dare you come into my office, demanding to become Hokage after all you've done you piece of shit?"

Danzou did not have the shame to look abashed. "We both know you will not live for much longer, Sarutobi-san. Under my thumb the village will prosper, while under Jiraiya it will burn, mark my words, if I don't become Hokage…"

"Are you threatening the village?" Sarutobi snarled, leaping out of his seat and shedding his Hokage robes in an instant.

"No, merely stating a fact. The village will not prosper properly under the rule of such perverted swine." Danzou repeated, and Jiraiya blushed as he tried to keep himself level headed.

"Konoha under the rule of a pervert will be infinitely better than under the rule of a murderous, back-stabbing low life as you…" Jiraiya snapped, "What would be the point of replacing one fossil with another? Sarutobi-sensei, I now know what you mean by me being the most qualified, I accept the position of Godaime as well as custodial rights to one Uzumaki Naruto. He is to live with me as well as train under my tutelage and become Rokudaime." Jiraiya finished.

Sarutobi smiled, but Danzou didn't. Instead he slammed his cane on the ground. "A _**jinchiruuki**_ becoming Hokage? Preposterous! Over my dead body, I will not allow that." Danzou roared, but Jiraiya smiled.

"In case you forgot, you are irrelevant, insignificant, and you have neither power nor rule in Konoha. The boy is a clan head as well as son of the Yondaime Hokage, hero to this village, unlike some one eyed, crippled bastard I know… and if need be, I'll make sure your dead to allow Uzumaki Naruto to become Hokage." Jiraiya warned him.

"Are you threatening me?" Danzou demanded.

Jiraiya's arm shot out and his hands clasped around the bastard's throat. Lifting him up in the air effortlessly, he began squeezing. "Let me tell you something, I'm not sensei, I will kill you if you get out of line with me. Uzumaki is my godson, son of my student, not your personal scapegoat or weapon for you to use. You fuck with him, you fuck with me, or by God I will end you. Am I understood?" Jiraiya demanded, before tossing the limp body across the room, much to Sarutobi's amusement.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Danzou grumbled, before grabbing his cane and hobbling out of the room.

"As of now Jiraiya-kun, you are officially Godaime Hokage, prepare for the introduction of your position to the village tomorrow at noon." Sarutobi grinned before walking away from the desk. "Don't worry, you'll be a great Hokage…" Sarutobi muttered before disappearing from the room and releasing the genjutsu on the stack of paperwork he had specifically saved for Jiraiya.

Seeing the paperwork, Jiraiya let out a girlish scream. "Son of a bitch, I'll kill you, you old fart."

IV

"We are all here." A boisterous voice announced to the projection of the other eight members in the desolate cave.

"Can we hurry this meeting… you talk too much and Jashin-sama's getting thirsty for his offering and I do not wish to bring his ire upon me." Another voice called out from across the room.

"You will do to remember that in here, I am god and can smite you a hell of a lot harder than your Jashin." The first voice replied slowly, with a hint of annoyance as well as amusement.

"Atheist…you unbeliever, I rebuke you in the name of Jashin."

"Hidan, enough. Let the meeting continue so leader can dismiss us and we can continue on with our bounty." Another voice interjected, and the one called Hidan let out a pitiful whine.

"I don't want money Kakuzu, I want to bring glory to the name of Jashin, motherfucker. Leader can suck a fat religious dick for all I care." Hidan snapped, his projection suddenly began to shimmer as the Leader began to strangle his real body.

"Shut up Hidan!" Leader barked, then looked over at the other seven members. "It is time for us to start collecting bijuu, and this plan will surely get us three bijuu in one sitting. As you know the Kyuubi captured the Nibi vessel and from what Zetsu tells us, they seem to be nearly inseparable and won't be separating soon. The second Kakashi's team gets to Konoha, we will send a courier bird to Suna warning them of an impending attack and to turn over there jinchiruuki. We all know how proud their Yondaime is and he'd rather fight than run, but he'll ask for help from his fellow allies; the Leaf Village.

"Konoha will most likely send their most powerful teams to help, as well as the Nibi to Suna for backup and we'll strike and capture three vessels as one." The Leader finished.

"How do you know they'll send the jinchiruuki?" another voice spoke up, the voice belonging to one of the last four Sharingan users, Uchiha Itachi.

"Itachi-kun, we all know about Konoha and their uses for jinchiruuki." The Leader said laughing.

"Hai." Itachi replied.

"I'm sending you Itachi, Kisame, Sasori and Deidara. It should be enough to complete the task at hand. Remember this, you must not fail, or face divine judgment."

V

"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto pouted, his eyes squinting, giving him a fox like appearance. Naruto had showed up at the bridge and to his surprise, it had been complete, after Gatou's death, the shipment of the metal and concrete that was supposed to have taken two month's time had miraculously appeared in Nami.

"Naruto, hang on a second. Tazuna's about the name the bridge, we'll talk afterwards." Kakashi chastised the twelve year old.

Tazuna stood in the center of a bunch of Nami citizens. "People of Nami, we are gathered today because the bridge to freedom has been completed. Thanks to Konoha and the efforts of Team Seven, heavy assault squadron, we were able to finish the bridge and come that much closer to our dream of restoring Nami to its former glory.

We had been faced with obstacles, poverty, the kidnapping and raping of our daughters, our children forced into work camps. They overtaxed food with less than minimum wage for our work. We had been plagued, but God had given us hope, through Team Seven. Despite the fact that I had lied about the importance and priority of the mission, they followed through bravely, disregarding their own caution for their lives and helped save us. So today we will christen the new lake as Konoha Lake in memory of their service as well as our combined future prosperity.

As for the bridge, it shall be named the Great Naruto Bridge." Tazuna announced and Naruto's jaw dropped.

"NANI!?"

Tazuna looked over at the young shinobi and smiled. "Yes it shall be named after you Naruto. Twice you have saved my life with no reason to, you continued the mission despite the lie. You selflessly cared when no one else did, and you fought when no one else could. You never gave up, and put aside your own feelings and did what was necessary to ensure my survival. Thus it shall be named after you, as an example that one person can make a difference, as an example that we, the village of Nami will fight from now on, and never give up, despite any challenge and overwhelming odds that may plague us in the future. This is the Great Naruto Bridge!"

Naruto looked at Tazuna with mixed feelings. The audience and Nami citizens stared in awe at him, clapping at him, smiling their eternal thanks. "But, I'm not the hero you make me out to be…" Naruto stuttered, "I'm not that person."

Tazuna tilted his head at Naruto. "You are not as emotionless as you think. You are our hero and savior, even if you don't see it. So thank you for your services. We also extend thanks to Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba and even Nii Yugito who had helped in the end. Thank you all, we can never thank you enough." Tazuna bent down and lit a large firework. The firework launched itself in the air and exploded into a million bursts of light, shining brightly despite it being a sunny day.

After the official christening of Konoha Lake and The Great Naruto Bridge, a party and festival ensued. Normally Naruto hated festivals, seeing as Konoha had started an annual one in celebration of the Kyuubi's defeat. He had been going to them prior to his ninth birthday until he realized that for some reason, he was attacked without fail every single time.

But alas, now that the bridge was completed Naruto knew he wouldn't be happy for long. He could party all night and be happy and merry like the rest of the drunks but when he awoke in the morning, he'd be returning to the hellhole that was his home, Konohagakure no Sato. Even though he had made friends out of Sasuke, Kiba, Kakashi, and had some sort of feeling for the Sandaime, it was still hard to wake up and be the most hated individual in Konoha for something out of his control.

After all, he'd only been a baby when Yondaime-teme had sealed the Kyuubi away in his newborn insignificant body. Yet they still hated him for it, the pariah and scapegoat of Konoha.

Brushing away such thoughts, he decided not to brood, he decided to leave that to Sasuke.

Then there was the whole thing with Yamanaka Ino. He liked her, she was pretty enough, but her fan girlish tendencies ruined her for him. He wanted…no needed someone who was strong, someone who he wouldn't have to worry about in battle.

"**Someone like Nii Yugito?" **Kyuubi's voice reverberated through his cage. Instantly Naruto was summoned to his cage, a place he hadn't seen since the attack that had left him blind temporarily.

Naruto's mindscape was a sewer for some unpleasant reason. There was an ungodly stench that made Naruto wonder if Kyuubi ever got rid of his turd nuggets or if he just let them stink away. Giggling for a second, his eyes swiveled up to the imaginary cage that held the demon there. There Kyuubi was, teeth and fangs gnashed together and dark red eyes peering at him.

"What the fuck do you want, you stupid fox?" Naruto asked blatantly.

"**I suggest that for the safety of your loved ones and friends that you never talk to me that way again." **Kyuubi warned, baring his teeth at him, his hot, rampant breath tickling Naruto's nose.

"Do remember that you are sealed within me, not the other way around." Naruto reminded him.

"**I have not forgotten, you pathetic monkey. I am merely reminding you that should you continue to fuck with me and I do find a way out of this seal, I will kill all you hold dear." **

"You're never getting out. Have you summoned me for a reason or were you just bored?" Naruto shot back.

"**You are here because you have been within close contact and proximity of the Nibi no Nekomata. You are under no circumstances distance yourself from her. When you used the Tsukyomi on her and used it inappropriately, you accidently connected yourself with her as well as the Nibi and I. Don't interrupt, I know that you know that. This bond, that damnable connection of yours is plaguing me. While you might have been so angered at the kunoichi that you didn't notice, you aroused her heavily as well as the Nibi and it's been eating at me in this cage your father shoved me in. Conquer the kunoichi's heart, mate with her and I will assist you in anyway possible until I escape. Do this for me and I will do as your father wanted; I'll let you live when I escape." **Kyuubi growled out, leering at Naruto with blood red Sharingan eyes.

"I have no father, nor do I have use for you wanton desires Kyuubi." Naruto snarled, unconsciously activating his own Sharingan. "I will do as I please and now knowing that you want to mate with the Nibi, I will deliberately distance myself away from her you idiot!" Naruto snapped at the giant fox sealed away within him.

"**You will do as I say boy, or you will reap upon agony and grief when I depart from this seal that ties me to your monkey flesh." **

"That's what you don't get, Kyuubi. You're never leaving this cage alive, so don't summon me unless you got something important to discuss, I suggest you don't summon me again!"

Naruto disappeared from his mindscape and back into reality. Naruto opened his eyes to stare into the single Cyclops eye of Kakashi. The said eye was frowning in concern and despite the fact that it should be the least of his worries, he wondered how Kakashi did that. "Are you alright Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto tilted his head to the side before laughing sheepishly. "Nani? Yeah I'm alright, I just spaced out for a bit, Kaka-sensei." Naruto replied evenly, feigning ignorance.

Kakashi gave him and odd look, but chose not to pursue.

VI

Fate did not smile kindly upon Kaguya Kimmimaro. He was the last of his clan, and now the last of his group. The Kaguya clan was all but extinct, having been wiped from the face of the earth by Kiri's shinobi. But fate had smiled upon him that day, and he had ran into Zabuza-shishou and Haku-kun and they had taken him in. They had fed him, trained him, they had given him a new purpose.

But now they were gone. Both of them had been killed by the same shinobi, his shishou was dead because of chakra poisoning, some sort of foul chakra had shut down his entire nervous system from the inside out. Haku on the other hand had died instantly; something had caved his chest in and robbed the effeminate boy of his life.

Zabuza had once told him that life was a bitch; either you fucked it or you got fucked.

He would not stop until he avenged his surrogate family's death. He would not stop, would not be stopped until he saw the life extinguish from the shinobi's eyes.

His purpose had been robbed, his family killed.

Did fate hate him that much?

VII

"It would appear that Jiraiya has been chosen to be Godaime." A soft voice called out, eyes hid behind the shade of his glasses.

Orochimaru was silent for a second, before bringing his amber eyes to his informant Kabuto. "It is of no consequence, the plan will continue as planned. We will destroy the Leaf Village, I am the strongest of the Sannin and that hasn't changed." Orochimaru replied, his silky voice sending shivers down Kabuto's back.

"Good. Everything has been set in place, we have convinced the Kazekage to attack and our soldiers here in Oto have come along brilliantly." Kabuto replied, pushing his glasses of his nose.

Orochimaru looked over at the enigma that was Kabuto. It probably would benefit him to kill the medic nin right now but Kabuto did provide services that even he Orochimaru couldn't do right now. If it weren't for the fact that he desired the Sharingan so much, Kabuto would be a prime body for him to steal. Oh how he desired to know the inner workings and jutsus that the medic nin knew.

But for now, he'd be content with having him as a lackey. "Do you have any new reports on the Akatsuki?" the pale faced snake asked.

Kabuto gave his master a small bemused smile, before responding. "Yes, I do. It would appear that Kakashi and his team has captured the Nibi and Akatsuki plan to nab the three jinchiruuki at one battle. They will attack Sunagakure in an attempt to lure the jinchiruuki and capture them, or at least reveal who they are."

Orochimaru pondered it for a second. "It is not without consequences. Who are they planning to send?"

"Uchiha Itachi, Kisame, Sasori and Deidara." Kabuto replied. "Why do you say there will be consequences?" Kabuto asked.

Orochimaru's long tongue slithered out and flicked out at Kabuto. "Think about it." Orochimaru spoke condescendingly, "Three jinchiruuki, Kakashi, an Uchiha and the Sand army. Despite how strong the Akatsuki may think they are, there will be some sort of ramification for their arrogance." Orochimaru whispered silkily.

"And you aren't?" Kabuto asked, amused smile lighting up his face.

"Careful boy. The only reason you're alive is because I find use in you. There may come a time where you'll outlive your usefulness and you'll regret your cheeky statements." Orochimaru snapped, his amber eyes bulging in anger.

Kabuto merely smiled once more before disappearing in a blaze of fire.

VIII

One could hate their home, but after being away from it for so long, one can not help but be ecstatic upon the eventual return. Or so this was true for Uzumaki Naruto. Both Kakashi and Sasuke had a look of indifference, while Kiba did not want to return and leave Nami no Kuni. "Can we get the next couple of days off?" Kiba begged Kakashi and Akamaru barked in response.

Kakashi stared at his student and crinkled his eye into a twisted smile. "We'll see Kiba."

Kakashi looked over at Naruto, who was walking side by side with the Kumo kunoichi, as if they hadn't been enemies. Kakashi's eye smile vanished as he watched the peculiar blonde blush when Kakashi caught him checking the Kumo kunoichi out.

Rather than calling him a pervert and alerting the kunoichi of Naruto's antics, Kakashi preferred to act aloof and cool, saving Naruto from another punch that would have knocked his head off.

After spending some time travelling, Team Seven and Nii Yugito finally arrived in from of Konohagakure. They had torn into Hi no Kuni's forests and hastily arrived at the large, looming gates that hid the beauty of the village behind it.

"So this is Konohagakure…?" Yugito spoke, her eyes widened in awe.

"No it's not…" Naruto spoke starkly, "This is Iwagakure, Nibi-chan."

Yugito, seeing Naruto's infamous smirk, gave him a cold glare that would have had Kages quaking in their boots. "Speak to me like that again…" Yugito stopped herself. Perhaps it wasn't too smart making threats to Naruto in front of his team and his village.

Naruto's smirk returned. "What's wrong, scaredy cat?"

Sasuke's eyes swiveled over to his blond best friend. "Naruto, that's enough taunting. The faster we can get rid of the kunoichi, the faster we can go train with Kakashi." Sasuke pointed out unabashedly.

Naruto looked over at his best friend and nodded. He was right, the two of them needed training badly. They were at best chuunin level shinobi. Yes, they had the Sharingan which helped them more than it hurt, but this mission had shown them that they were in fact, truly weak. They had been so cocky thinking that they, two of the last three Sharingan users would dominate their missions, laying claim to everything in sight, yet if it had not been for their Sharingan, both would be dead. Hell, both nearly died, but the blow hurt worse for Sasuke.

He had panicked during the fight with Zabuza, and he'd been bested by Haku despite everything the brooding Uchiha had thrown at him. Naruto on the other hand had killed both Zabuza and Haku, yet he still felt weak. Zabuza had forced him to rely on the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and even then he had died of chakra poisoning caused by a Youkai Chidori.

While he had wiped the floor with Haku, it had been because he had been low on chakra, already having fending Sasuke off and exhausted. He had been easy pickings for Naruto. And despite that, he nearly died twice. Haku had impaled him twice on the zanpatou, even when he had breathed his last, he had managed to work towards his purpose.

If it hadn't been the Kyuubi sealed away in his gut, he would not have lived.

If it wasn't for his Sharingan, he would not have defeated Yugito, nor Haku.

Truly he felt weak.

The gates to Konoha opened up and Izumo and Kotetsu, the chuunin best friends, were there to greet them. "Kakashi-sempai and his little gakis, you've made it back safely, with a prisoner at that." Kotetsu greeted, beaming a smile upon Naruto and Sasuke.

"You're kids do look beat up… try not to show up late and brief the Sandaime, ne Kaka-senpai?" Izumo finished, giving them an off-handed wave as the two chuunins resumed their posts.

"Let's go and see the Sandaime." Kakashi spoke, before crinkling his eye into another creepy smile. He swiveled his eye and looked at Yugito, warning her not to try nothing stupid before they were to meet the Sandaime.

Yugito grunted unladylike and the five shinobi headed downtown before finishing their trek as they saw the Hokage's tower. The five of them entered the tower, and saw Iruka handing out missions.

"Naruto-kun!" there was a loud, banshee like squeal and vanilla and lavender tainted Naruto's nostrils as a pair of arms snaked themselves around his waist.

"Ino-san." Naruto bit off, trying to mask his annoyance.

"How was your mission?" She replied chattily, her anxious enthusiasm annoying Naruto even more.

"Tiring, I really don't want to talk about right now Ino. Maybe later when we finish briefing Hokage-jiji, I'll take you out for some dango." Naruto promised.

Ino caught onto his annoyance and disappointment marred her face. Naruto turned around to face her and instantly berated himself for being such a douche. Her brows were furrowed in thought and a sad frown was etched on her thin, pretty face. "Don't worry about it Naruto-kun." She turned to leave but Naruto gripped her arm gently.

"Hang on Ino-chan." Naruto spoke so softly, Ino nearly thought she imagined him calling her Ino-chan. Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him, the scent of vanilla and lavender getting a rise out of him. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he spoke, "Sorry for being such a dirtbag Ino. I'm just so distraught after everything that happened on this mission that I took it out on you when I shouldn't of have. I promise, as soon as we brief the old geezer, I'll take you out and make it up to you." He offered, giving her a genuine smile.

She deserved that much.

A smile lit up her pretty features, and suddenly she noticed the Kumo kunoichi. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but chose not to. Giving Naruto a quick peck on his lips, she turned back to her team bouncing away happily.

"Aww…kiddy love." Yugito snipped at him, giving him a sideways glance through her feline like eyes.

"You almost sound jealous, bitch, oh wait, that'd be Kiba's mother, so I guess you're just a stupid, jealous pussy. Meow…" Naruto shot back.

"Mark my words…"

"So this must be the jinchiruuki you were talking about Kakashi!" A loud voice interrupted her. At the doorway stood a peculiar looking man, dressed in black ninja pants, with the shins tapered by bandages, a black long sleeved shirt with an old school jounin flak vest over it. That and he was wearing the Hokage robes sans the hat. A long mane of spiky white hair adorned his head, muddy brown eyes with red lines drawn under the eyes leading towards his jaw.

"Why is this tard dressed in jiji's clothes?" Naruto asked Kakashi, who bowed his head in shame.

"Naruto, this is the Godaime Hokage of Konoha, Jiraiya the Great Toad Sage." Kakashi responded.

Naruto's eyes widened. Sarutobi had been replaced by this big oaf…

"They must be running low on candidates to replace jiji with the biggest hentai known to man. Isn't that right, Ero-sama?" Naruto asked quizzically, tilting his head to the side as he got a good look at the known author of the Icha Icha series.

Jiraiya took one hard long look at his godson. "Stand at attention when you're talking to me!!!" Jiraiya barked at the blonde, who upon reflex snapped to attention.

Team Seven and Yugito did as well. Jiraiya cast them a look, before responding, "Not you guys, just this particular blonde sea monkey." Jiraiya stood up to full height before glaring down upon Naruto. "I'm not sure what kind of management and impersonal relationship you might have had with the old goat, but that doesn't fly with me. You will learn to respect me, you will call me Hokage-sama or I will throw you in the brig for treason." Jiraiya threatened, leaking some killer intent, enough to even cause Iruka to tremble on the other side of the room. "Am I clear?"

Naruto lowered his green eyes to the floor, before turning them up to stare at Jiraiya, his eyes no longer green, but blood red with a two tomoed Sharingan gazing peculiarly at the Hokage. "Give me your worst, Ero-sama." Naruto replied coolly and levelly.

"Not bad kid, you got balls for sure. Just like your…"

"Hokage-sama, we are here to turn in our reports from last mission…" Kakashi interrupted, before Jiraiya could finish.

Jiraiya gave Kakashi a hard gaze, before beckoning them to his office. Kakashi reported everything that had happened in the last mission, including the whole bond Naruto and Yugito had formed. Jiraiya once hearing of how the bond even became created, berated Naruto for having used a jutsu he didn't have absolute control of.

"Nii Yugito, now that you know several of our S-ranked secrets as well as this connection with Naruto, there is no possible way to allow you to waltz back to Kumo. I need you to contact the Raikage and schedule a meeting between us to make sure we bring you over to Konoha." Jiraiya spoke.

"Seeing how I am a valuable jinchiruuki of Kumo, I think it will be impossible to convince them. "But I will do as you ask, Hokage-sama." Yugito finished.

"Why don't we keep her and use her as our weapon, along with Naruto-kun." A soft, cold voice interrupted the Hokage. Arm in a sling, and bandages covering up most of his face, Danzou walked in, hobbling along with his cane.

Naruto looked at the old war hawk and immediately the two tomoes formed a three sided pin wheel. He had unconsciously activated his Mangekyou Sharingan. Moving to fast to be stopped, Naruto ducked under Kakashi's arm to lay a vicious kick to Danzou's chest, bowling the old man over and sending him crashing into a wall.

"Just exactly why is he alive?" Naruto demanded, his voice livid and seething.

A/N: I tried to get 10000 words but it just wouldn't flow and I didn't want y'all to wait anymore than necessary for this chapter. Sorry for the long wait, my muse has sucked and I've been busy with life and a super hot girlfriend. Till next time, and I hope I can update ASAP.


	10. Revelations: Whispers of War Pt 2

REQUIEM OF A DEMON

CHAPTER TEN: REVELATONS: WHISPERS OF WAR PT. 2

A/N: HEY, SORRY FOR THE WAIT, BUT I'M DRUNK AND IT'S THE DAY BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY, THOUGH YOU WONT GET THIS CHAPTER UNTIL NEXT WEEK OR SO. WISH ME GOOD LUCK, I'M TAKING MY E-5 EXAMS THIS WEEK AND HOPEFULLY I GET PROMOTED IN JUNE…LOL.

I

Danzou's one eye stared into the blazing, three sided pinwheel of Naruto's Mangekyou Sharingan, and he instantly closed his eyes out of reflex. He had not forgotten his previous encounter with Naruto's Tsukyomi and was not ready to face it again. He groaned as he forced his weary bone and muscles to force themselves back to his feet. "I don't believe that was necessary, Naruto-kun." Danzou spoke, his voice gravelly and dangerous.

A kunai slid down Naruto's sleeve and into his open hand, and he clenched it tightly, ready to ram it in Danzou's throat if he proved to be dangerous.

"Naruto, calm down." Jiraiya's voice boomed loudly, and Naruto immediately slid the kunai back up into his sleeve and gave the Godaime a wary look.

"With all due respect, Danzou hired some ANBU to gouge out my eyes when I was nine, forgive me if I'm a bit wary of the old bastard." Naruto spoke as levelly as he could. Despite the anger that was boiling deep within his gut, despite the fact that the Kyuubi was demanding Danzou's head on a plate, Naruto calmed down.

"I understand Naruto. Here's the situation though, the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni released Danzou back into society. Apparently this shinobi relic has some political connect and ties that if lost could hinder Konoha's powerhouse abilities. So, in order to prevent that, he released Danzou and pardoned him for his crimes." Jiraiya explained.

"You're telling me that he gets pardoned for staging the massacre of the Uchiha clan, hires his Ne goons to gouge out my eyes and because he sucked a lot of dick and has connects, its okay?" Naruto growled out, his voice raising a timbre as his whiskers darkened and his eyes turned dark blue with black slits.

Uchiha Sasuke was not fairing any better, his fist clenched in anger, his Mangekyou variant blazing to life. Here was the man responsible for the deaths of his parents, his entire clan and Itachi's betrayal. He tried to keep his killer intent under control, but his chakra spiked, surging around him in a blaze of blue.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi snapped at him, but Sasuke ignored him.

Sasuke looked at Danzou and gave him a lopsided grin. "You will pay for the blood that stains your hands. Even if the Daimyo pardons you Danzou, neither I nor the Uchiha you murdered will ever, and you will pay, in this life or the next." Sasuke spoke.

"You will due to remember that you too could die just as well as your clan did Sasuke." Danzou warned, his tone biting and stinging.

There was a silent pause, a relapse in time almost as the room got eerily quite. They stood there in disbelief that Danzou could go that far in front of the very Hokage.

Danzou screamed and blood tainted the air, splashing coolly against Sasuke's face. There was a small, shallow cut on Danzou's neck, opposite of where the jugular was.

Even Naruto hadn't seen Sasuke move. "You will do well to remember that just as easily as you ordered Itachi to murder the clan, I could easily kill you, maim you and what's left of your family. I've done my research, you have a granddaughter, Hitomi right, I wonder if she'd like a big, fat, Uchiha dick in her mouth? I wouldn't, then I couldn't hear her scream…"

And with that, Sasuke vanished in a swirl of blue, as if he'd never been there at all.

"I advice you take heed to the warning, Danzou-_chan.__**We're best friends and we do everything together.**_" Naruto growled out, leaking some youkai in the process.

"Uzumaki, perhaps you will do better in explaining to Sasuke that I am no one to be trifled with, you should know from firsthand experience." Danzou retorted, allowing a cruel smirk to light up his face.

Naruto returned the smirk. "Perhaps. I wonder if Hitomi-chan's a squealer, it's no fun unless they squeal. Or what about your daughter, would she still be pretty if I shoved a Chidori down her throat?"

At that point, Danzou gave up, seething and livid and walked out of the Hokage's office.

Naruto turned his attention back to the Hokage and Kakashi sweat dropped. "Naruto, don't you think that maybe it was a bit excessive?" Kakashi asked.

"No." Naruto clipped out.

Jiraiya took a long, hard look at the boy his student fathered. Besides their looks, they were nothing alike. Minato would not resort to cheap, vile tactics to harm another.

"Naruto, you and Kiba are dismissed. Take the next week off and don't let me hear about you coming near Hitomi. I'll strip you of your rank and throw you immediately into the brig. Are we understood?" Jiraiya asked.

"No. We're not. Perhaps it might be easy for you to make orders from behind your cushy office, ero-sennin, but from my perspective, it's not easy to follow them. I'll stay away from Danzou and his family for now, but I will have my revenge when I'm strong enough, and no one will stop me… not even you Hokage-sama." Naruto shot back and stormed off, disappearing in a crackle of lightning.

"God, that kid's going to be real trouble. We need to find a way for him to submit to us, I want to help him and show him that everyone in Konoha's not bad Kakashi, but fuck it's going to be a rough ride." Jiraiya spoke, clasping his hands together.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for him sooner, Jiraiya-sama. But hopefully we can change him… But what are we going to do about Yugito-san over here, you were informed of Naruto's fuck up and how he formed some sort of link to her, she has to stay here. Yet if we keep her and instate her as a shinobi of Konoha, there could be two problems with it." Kakashi said grimly.

"What problems?" Jiraiya asked.

"First, Kumo might retaliate and start a war…and we don't really want that with the Chuunin exams coming up. Second is that if Konoha's populace is revealed that Yugito here is the vessel for the Nibi, they might treat her like Naruto, but unlike Naruto she was not raised here and would have no problem destroying the village in the Nibi's wake." Kakashi replied, though Yugito interjected before Jiraiya could speak.

"I'm not as emotionally unstable as Naruto so I won't attack the populace unless directly attacked. Two, why even inform them about it, we should just keep it quiet. Three… I'm not going to be used as some weapon for people like Danzou…" Yugito snarled, looking over at where Danzou had stood and leaking some killer intent. "I saw Naruto's memories and because of it I want to kill him myself, but I will not deny Naruto that pleasure." Yugito finished, closing her eyes and hoping that Jiraiya wouldn't kill her for her outburst.

"That sounds reasonable…I will make a decree that anyone revealing the fact that Yugito is a jinchiruuki to anyone that doesn't already know is grounds for immediate execution by the Godaime." Jiraiya declared in a large booming voice.

Kiba nodded and Akamaru whined pitifully, though to say that Kiba wasn't quaking in his boots would have been false. "As for Kumo, they have been previously warned. When the Shodai so retardedly handed out the Bijuu to the other nations, there was a decree that if the village used any of there bijuus in an unprovoked attack against Konoha and they were captured, Konoha could confiscate their Bijuu and not return it. They attacked, and now we're keeping her." Jiraiya ran through a set of hand seals, before slamming his hand on his desk. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

"You summoned me Jiraiya?" A small voice squeaked out and once the smoke cleared, there was a small yellow and blue toad sitting on Jiraiya's desk.

"Yes I did Gamaraido, I have a favor to request." Jiraiya spoke to it, pulling out a box of pocky from one of the drawers.

The toad's eyes burned bright with the flame of youth. "What do you need Jiraiya?"

"I need you to send this message to the Raikage as fast as you can, and get the hell out of dodge before they kill you." Jiraiya said, before handing the toad the pocky and a message that it swallowed in his mouth. Then the toad disappeared faster than the human eye could follow. "That fast, little bastard." Jiraiya spoke, smiling.

"So I'm officially a leaf nin now?" Yugito asked with a tone of resignation.

Jiraiya nodded, walking to the Hokage closet and pulling out a green chuunin vest. "You are officially a Konoha chuunin now. Please Yugito, all we ask is that you serve Konoha dutifully and act solely in its interests. I also ask that you make the best out of the bond with Naruto and befriend him, and hopefully change his opinion on life. Show my godson that life is worth living, Yugito."

Yugito pursed her lips. "Am I bound to him?" she asked.

"I'm not asking you to sleep with him, merely for you to befriend him. Whatever happens down the road is between the two of you." Jiraiya asked. "Yugito, situate yourself here in Konoha and return to this office in two weeks and we'll start assigning you missions. Same with you Kakashi and Kiba. Now go!" Jiraiya ordered.

The three shinobi disappeared, leaving Jiraiya in his office alone. "Things are going to get bad… I just wish you were here Hime." Banishing all thoughts of the beautiful buxom blonde, Jiraiya pondered what to do with Naruto.

II

Naruto's lips were pursed in an angry line, marring the boy's handsome features. That bastard Danzou…Naruto thought to himself. Walking the narrow hallway, leading away from the Hokage's office, Naruto didn't really know what to think of the new Hokage. Jiraiya, the perverted buffoon had made Hokage, perhaps they just gave the title out nowadays to any unqualified jackass.

Ino was waiting for him at the end, dressed in her usual violet setup. "Hey Naruto-kun." She spoke, an easy going smile on her face.

Covering up his emotions for the sake of the fragile girl, Naruto forced his lips to curve in a wide smile. "Ino-chan, you look sexy, ne?" Naruto whispered, as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her flush to him. She giggled with delight and pressed her thigh against the junction between his legs.

"I missed you." She admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Me too Ino. I thought I was going to die and never see you again." Naruto confessed, before capturing her lips with his own and giving her a chaste kiss. "Let's get some food, I'm tired of eating all the berries and fruit we ate on the way up. I could use a bit of ramen." Naruto offered, before sliding his arm around her neck and walking away, missing the very jealous look Nii Yugito shot them.

The two headed down to Ichiraku's and ate a few bowls of ramen in silence, neither of them willing to start the conversation and instead indulged in the awkward silence. "What happened on your mission, the Hokage was freaking out and everything?" Ino finally asked, breaking the weird tension.

Naruto was silent for a second. "I learned a lot of things I wasn't willing to admit before." he finally admitted, before lowering his head to get a mouthful of the rich noodles.

"Like what? Enlighten me." Ino begged, scooting her chair closer to her 'boyfriend'. Which he wasn't, Naruto himself had made that very clear to her.

"I'm weak…" Naruto spoke, looking at Ino with sorrowful cerulean eyes. "I thought I was powerful, and I almost got me and Sasuke killed. I was too dependent on my Sharingan, and if it weren't for the Sharingan, I'd be dead right now." Naruto confessed, bowing his head down as the memories of Nami flooded his mind.

"You're not weak Naruto…" Ino spoke, placing a kiss on his cheek. "You're the strongest guy I know, besides Hokage-sama. It's part of the reason I love you."

"You weren't there, you wouldn't know! I released some of the Kyuubi, not once, but twice. I'm the supposed son of the Yondaime, and yet, I'm so weak, it was pathetic." Naruto snapped, glowering at her. "Yes, I killed two A-ranked nukenin, both tired from previous battles and captured a kunoichi from Kumo. But I nearly died three times, because I was overcome by anger, completely disregarding Shinobi rule number twenty five."

"Naruto, it was your first C-ranked turned A-ranked mission. You're a fucking genin for a reason, so you can sit here and bitch about how poorly you did out there, but had it been anyone else, any other genin from Konoha, that person would have been dead. So shut up, finish your ramen and take me out for a walk." Ino shot back, returning the scowl.

Naruto pondered over her words for a second. "You don't get it. I killed two people, Zabuza, I killed him to test the capacity of my own power and Haku, I killed him out of anger…that's what a monster would do, that's what the Kyuubi would do." He snarled, getting the attention of Teuichi, the owner of the ramen stand.

"Calm down Naruto." He ordered. "You'll scare off potential customers."

Naruto bowed his head. "Hai. Ne, Gomen nasai." Laying down a bit of ryou on the counter, he looked at Ino. "Sorry to ruin our date Ino… look this should cover our lunches, but I need some time for myself." Naruto bit out, before disappearing away in a crack of lightning.

Naruto disappeared, reappearing on the Yondaime's head as he contemplated things. He could be a bloody bastard sometimes and he knew it. He couldn't help it, since the attack that had left him blind, he had put up barriers around himself to let no one in and hurt him and when people got close he lashed out.

Even Sasuke, his best friend, one of the few people Naruto would die to protect, had a rough time getting through to Naruto. Kakashi, the Sandaime, even Ino, he couldn't help but resort to lashing out whenever they got to close.

Kakashi and Ino didn't deserve it though, they never had betrayed him from day one. Kakashi was doing everything he could to make it up to Naruto for the last twelve years and Naruto had been unwilling to look at his sensei as his aniki. Despite Kakashi's valiant efforts, even having taught Naruto his original, most prized jutsu, Naruto couldn't help but brush it off as insignificant.

And poor Ino.

The girl loved him and he didn't share the same love that she held for him. He loved her as a close friend, but beyond that, it was hard to muster up courage to feel any more than just that. She was attractive enough, hell, she was the hottest girl he knew, even hotter than Yugito, and she fought valiantly to win his heart over, but to Naruto, her affections were nothing more than fan girlish feelings, seemingly there one second and gone the next.

He really couldn't take her seriously. After all, he was a week away from turning thirteen, he had no substance to the definition of what an amorous love should be…

How the hell could she?

Then there was the situation with Danzou. Naruto knew that he was not strong enough to take the Root leader out and get away with it scotch free. He of course was bluffing when he threatened to rape Danzou's granddaughter and kill his daughter, but the bloody coot had the galls to threaten him and Sasuke.

For that, Naruto would shove a Chidori in his face, until the skin sizzled, until his nerves and muscles charred away. His eyeballs would pop and leak and then as Danzou breathed his last, would Naruto be free. Free of the burden and hatred life had bestowed on the young child.

Children should not hate nor be hated as he was.

Yet he was… Because of Danzou, he had a vague, horrific childhood. Solely in his death would the chains of Olympus would be lifted, and then the suffering Naruto was put through would be justified.

But he'd wait.

Until then.

III

Death…

His art, his job, his sworn loyalty to his village ensured that he'd deal a lot of it.

Alone, he was. Tears streaming down his cheeks, as his stomach threatened to revolt in disgust. The lone man of Team Seven, Inuzuka Kiba laid there in bed, hiding away from everyone and everything as his brain finally digested his actions of what he'd done in Nami.

His claws, his fangs cutting, tearing through flesh and blood splashed against his face.

His doing.

He had killed.

It was bad enough that his teammates didn't really notice him. He was Inuzuka Kiba after all, rambunctious and outgoing, and to be completely ignored by Naruto and Sasuke was a harsh blow to his ego. Did they think so little of him? Was he so weak in comparisons to the two Sharingan users that they refused to look at him as an equal, let alone a comrade?

Akamaru was sound asleep, no one there to tell him it would be alright.

Throughout the trip back, the very shock of what he'd done had forced his mind to hide it, stow it away in the recesses of his mind so he wouldn't be forced to relive what he'd done.

On the trip back to Konoha he had mustered a smile and all the enthusiasm that he could, to bear and forget. But once he locked himself from everybody, from his family, where no one could watch him, the memories came, hauntingly strong and he cried.

He cried because he had killed, and because unless he gave up being a shinobi, he would have to do it again and again.

His family barely saw him once he returned, he had ran up and hid away from them for the last two days, and he hadn't searched for his own team, he didn't want to see the stuck up pricks either. Alone in his thoughts, he barely caught the loud knocking on his door. "Go away." Kiba ordered, snarling.

"It's me Kakashi-sensei." The voice of the aloof, spiky haired ninja called out.

Standing up to his feet, he wiped away his tears from his eyes. Splashing some water on his splotchy face, he dried it off and walked up to his bedroom door and opened it.

Kakashi stood there, his eye crinkling into that weird eye smile that seemingly only Kakashi could do. "Yes sensei." Kiba croaked, his voice cracking.

"Just came to check up on ya kid. Tsume-san notified me that you've been hiding away up here crying for the last two days so I wanted to see if you're alright." Kakashi admitted, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I wasn't crying." Kiba grumbled under his breath.

"What's wrong kiddo?" Kakashi asked, releasing the boy's shoulder.

Kiba didn't really have any male role models. His father had left when he was two, chased away by his tomboyish mother, and it honestly surprised Kiba that he didn't become a bloody poofter with all the vagina in the house.

"I don't know. Killing all those guys hadn't bothered me until now. I feel like a monster, I took all there lives as if they were insignificant. What if they had families just like us? And now they'll never go home, because I killed them. These last two days I've reflected on it and I don't want to kill…not anymore, and if it means quitting as a ninja then I'm fully prepared for the consequences, but I can't do this…"

"Kiba." Kakashi's voice interrupted him, soft but commanding. "Perhaps I'm not the best person to tell you how to accept death. I walked in on my dad committing seppuku when I was five and afterwards, life wasn't the same. But in all my times of being a shinobi, there's one thing I realized…"

There was a pregnant pause.

"…It's that we're heroes." Kakashi finished.

"How?" Kiba demanded, "We kill people, all out of sworn loyalty to a village, how are we heroes?"

"Because we do what others can't. You're right, some of our missions aren't the greatest and at times… morally questionable. But we shinobi exist for one reason, to spare others from living our lives. If all the civilians rebelled and refused to become shinobi, who would fight our wars? Regular Joes would be forced to become shinobi by means of militia control, but because we exist, we spare them that pain.

"Taking life hurts at times. But you're a hero because you spare someone else from doing it, so in a sense, they cancel each other out."

"Sensei…" Kiba whispered, his eyes streaming with tears.

"Some people aren't meant to live this life that we partake in. But because you fight our village's battle alongside jounin like I, those people don't have to fight. Take pride in that fact, that you spared someone else from killing those people in Nami. And you shouldn't feel ashamed for crying, you took someone's life, true, but the fact that you sit here crying about only proves how human you are. Only a monster could kill and not be touched by it." Kakashi explained, placing his hand on the top of the boy's head.

"So I'm not a monster, I don't want to become someone like Naruto or Sasuke." Kiba admitted.

"They aren't monsters. They're the product of the village's misguided hatred. Naruto was hated by all because he was the only thing they could blame for the Kyuubi's attack, and in that hatred Naruto's become what he is now. But even then, he hurts, he cries, he feels Kiba. Naruto is far from a monster, he's just an angsty that never had the chance to be a child. While you played with your dogs, he was treated like one. Sasuke on the other hand, he had to watch his entire family massacred by his older brother, only to find out that a faction in his very own village ordered the execution, so he naturally distrusts the village as a whole, despite the fact that he defends it with utmost care." Kakashi said.

"They're both stuck up assholes." Kiba shot back, and Kakashi ruffled his hair in an irritating manner.

"Kiba, how many times how you sought them out and tried to be friendly without insulting them? Perhaps they view you as the asshole." Kakashi spoke softly, lost in his own thoughts. "Just remember this, you're a hero Kiba-kun, never let anyone tell you different." Kakashi reminded him, before releasing the boy and heading out of the room.

"Thank you sensei." Kiba whispered after the man left. "Thank you."

IV

Rock Lee took off in a burst of speed, flying across the earth faster than anyone could see, seemingly vanishing in a cloud of dirt and an explosion of chakra. A few Iwa nin had attacked them on the way back to the village and Team 4 struggled against them. The group was using some sort of Doton defense shield that made their flesh rock hard. Tenten's weapons were ineffective and the long ranged user could only beat the troops back with her bo staff.

Neji was having the fight of his life as well. Byakugan on, he scanned the enemies for a weak side to their defense and found none, not to mention his Jyuuken was completely ineffective, unable to penetrate the rock hard defense to shut down their chakra systems.

Kurenai was parrying against their commander, but even her strongest genjutsu were barely fazing him. "Fuck," she swore, "We just might have to retreat." Kurenai yelled, attempting to warn her comrades.

"You're not going anywhere little lady, you and that other girl will watch the other two buffoons die and then we're gonna put those mouths to good use." The leader, Takanawa Izume shot back, before placing a well timed kick to her sternum, nearly cracking it with sheer force.

"Not while I'm alive." Lee yelled, reappearing in front of Izume in midair, before his foot was encompassed in a blaze of chakra, thoroughly decapitating the Iwa commander. Not stopping there, he spun around and rushed towards Tenten, leaping in the air and bringing his fist down on the next Iwa shinobi, caving a hole in their skull.

Tenten gave him an appreciative smile, but he didn't have time to linger, pivoting on his foot to launch a trio of kunai against Neji's attackers. They bounced off harmlessly, but it was just a ruse to momentarily distract them as sprinted towards Neji, pushing him away from the katana that was about to skewer him.

Clasping the sides of the blade between his hands, his foot shot out and slammed into the nin's knee, snapping his leg with Lee's renowned strength, disrupting his rock shield for a split second, enough time for Lee to bury a kunai in the attacker's forehead. The attacker's comrade was about to move, when Lee leaped in the air and gave him a spinning heel kick to his neck, snapping it with ease.

It went downhill for the Iwa nin after that.

After the battle, they laid out on the grass, with Kurenai standing watch as they tried to recoup and recover. Neji was silent and stoic, though more than usual. "Thank you for your help Lee." Tenten said, before reaching over and giving the black clad shinobi a kiss on his cheek.

"It was nothing. I'd gladly lay my life down to protect all of you, even you, my rival Hyuuga Neji." Rock Lee spoke with such conviction, it touched the seasoned veteran Yuuhi Kurenai.

"Lee, don't ever listen to anyone if they say you're worthless and unfit to be a ninja. If it weren't for you, we'd all be dead right now, you saved us all from death and things worse than it." Kurenai said, giving the fourteen year old genin a small smile.

"Any insults to my personal self are discarded and only motivate me to train that much harder sensei. Had it not been for you being a superb jounin-sensei, I would not be where I'm at. Instead of thanking me, thank yourself for being our sensei and push me to become better." Lee said, returning the smile, before losing himself in his own thoughts.

"Thank you Lee, you truly are a magnificent ninja as well as a great student…"

She was cut off by an irate Neji. "It's about time he picked his fair share of the load. Since we've been on the team he's been nothing but useless emotional baggage. Even Tenten, weak as she is a hell of a lot more useful than he is."

Before Kurenai could open up her mouth to defend him, Lee beat her to him. "I'd rather be a slave to my emotions, than a slave to fate, ne Neji-kun?" Lee asked, brushing aside the pang in his chest. "I did start off as a weak, useless shinobi. One with no aptitude for Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, but I, said slave to my emotions trained fervently to become as strong as I could while encouraging my teammates and sensei to better themselves. You, said slave to fate have always had talent and a powerful bloodline to aid you, while discouraging your teammates with harsh words. Stronger you might be, Neji-kun, but I am better than you, and even if my way is harder and harsh, I will endure it just to prove that I truly am better than you in any way."

"Fate has already revealed it's cards, Lee-kun. I am the strongest genin in Konoha and no matter how hard you train, fate does not bend to your whims." Neji shot back scathingly.

"Perhaps, but sleep tonight knowing this. If it weren't for me, Rock Lee, fate would not have spared you. You'd be nothing more than a rotting, eyeless corpse. Sleep tight Neji." Rock Lee replied calmly, before laying back and succumbing to the darkness.

V

995...996…997…998…999…1000.

Sakura stood up to her feet, her body soaked with sweat as she finished her round of pushups. Her biceps and triceps were sore as hell but she could feel the definitions of muscle hidden veiled behind her flesh. Her legs were sore from running and squats. Anko was not an easy sensei, but she was effective, Sakura and Hinata were stronger than they'd ever been if they were taught by another sensei.

Sadly, the scandalously clad jounin was rubbing off on them, more than they felt was comfortable. Hinata was more outgoing, and had a mouth on her as well. No longer the pushover than Hiashi had come to know, Hiashi now reinstated her as clan head, once realizing her true worth.

Sakura could tell her still developing teenage mind corrupted as she thought perverted thoughts, thoughts that she had never thought before of Sasuke.

Brushing off the thoughts, she walked up to her sensei, an odd question had been lingering in her mind during training and wanted out. "Anko-sensei, I had a question." Sakura stated, nearly backing up as Anko's eyebrows rose in annoyance.

That was never a good thing. "What do you want, Sakura-chan?" Anko said, causing Sakura to bristle.

"Why do you train to become stronger?"

Anko pondered it for a second, before her eyes narrowed, causing Sakura to get nervous. "To prove my worth… Once a long time ago, I was the apprentice to a rogue sannin, he was everything to me, but he discarded me as trash, claiming I wasn't strong enough. So I train, to prove my worth to him and this village. I don't regret what I've done, but when it's all said and done, I want to look him in the eye and make him regret tossing me aside. I don't ever want to join him in his perversion of the ninja world again, but I want him to know that I could have helped him, had he not discarded me.

"Because of my apprenticeship, this village holds a grudge on me, like your friend Naruto. So I also train to make them realize, just like he, that I'm of worth. That the things I've did were out of my control, that like Naruto, I had no fault. So I'll become stronger until I am acknowledged." Anko finished.

"But Naruto was guilty, he killed my father." Sakura snapped, instantly regretting it.

"In self-defense. If you walked in on your father about to kill your mother for no reason and it was her life or his, who would you pick? If you do nothing, your mother dies, if you do, your father dies. Could you pick to let your mother die? Naruto went through the same, your father tried to kill him, because he too like many of these ignorant villagers view him as something he had no control over, and it came down to Naruto's life or your fathers, it had nothing to do with you."

Taking her sensei's words to heart, Sakura walked away from the training, no longer burning with the unquenchable hatred that burned for her to kill Uzumaki Naruto.

Stepping in to her and her mother's flat, she called out, "Afternoon, kaa-chan." Taking off her shinobi sandals and brushing them aside, she tiptoed to the kitchen to see if her mother was cooking.

Her mother was in the kitchen, cooking dango. "Afternoon Sakura-chan." Her mother waved politely. "How was training?" she asked, walking up to her daughter to give her a hug.

"The usually, I busted my ass out there training and sensei gave me an important lesson on getting stronger." Sakura responded, flexing her sore arms.

"And what was that?" Haruno Megumi asked, crossing her arms. She particularly did not like Sakura's sensei, almost as much as that _demon boy _that took her husband from her.

"That power gained from revenge is meaningless. For one to be strong, one has to train to better one self and to have a positive goal. She also told me that training to kill Naruto-san is pointless because in a sense he's innocent." Sakura whispered, already knowing how her mom would take that.

"Innocent! There's nothing innocent about that _thing!_ He took your father from us, he nearly…"

"Otousan tried to kill him, kaa-chan." Sakura pointed out.

"He should have been dead from birth!" Megumi shouted, her lips pursed in a tight line.

"Just what did he do to deserve death from birth?" Sakura asked, but her mother ignored her.

"Sakura, listen to me. Forget what your sensei said. Naruto must die by your hands, nothing more nothing less." Megumi shouted.

"No mom. It's over, not only is the mission itself suicidal but sensei is right. You're just too biased against him to listen to reason. If you want Uzumaki dead that bad, perhaps you should become a ninja and kill him yourself." Sakura snapped, heading upstairs to her room and ignoring her mother's outraged protests.

VI

Naruto woke up the next day, still feeling tired. He had overslept and had slept for a total of fifteen hours which was never good. It was already one in the afternoon according to his clock. There was a tap on his window, and his eyes swiveled in paranoia to see what it was. It was a carrier bird.

Naruto opened up the window and let the bird inside, who offered his delicate leg with a small scroll attached to it. Naruto cautiously took the scroll and opened it.

_Naruto-kun,_

_Chouji, Shika, and I are all going to that BBQ place around two in the afternoon, if you wanted to come and bring your team you'd be more than welcome to. _

_Love, _

_Y. Ino_

Groaning to himself, he discarded the scroll to the side and handed the bird a piece of bread. Then he sent it off again to return to wherever the hell it dwelled. Standing up, he pondered on whether he should just blow Ino off. He didn't feel like seeing her after acting like a jackass yesterday.

But then again it has been awhile since he's seen Chouji and Shikamaru, he was gone for quite a bit in Nami no Kuni. Deciding to go, he threw on a casual outfit of khaki shorts, a black sleeveless shirt, and a set of chainmail armbands. To finish the look, he put on a black pair of getas, and ruffled his hair into long, thick spikes.

Putting his hands together in the tiger hand seal, he disappeared in a swirl of lightning. Two minutes later, he finally got to Sasuke's house and pounded on Sasuke's door.

After a few minutes of waiting around, he realized that Sasuke was very much gone. 'I guess I'll have to go by myself…wait, I wonder what Kiba or Yugito are up to… Wait, Ino and Yugito in the same vicinity, hell no… But I guess I'll try Kiba's house.' Naruto thought, before taking off as fast as he could towards the Inuzuka compound.

"Kiba!" Naruto shouted when he arrived, and seconds later a disgruntled Inuzuka Hana came out.

"What do you want, gaki?" Hana asked abruptly.

"Ne, still looking sexy as ever." Naruto complimented, giving her a what he hoped was a foxy smile.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with most girls, except for me of course." Hana replied, giving the blonde a soft hug. "It's a shame you're four years my junior, perhaps one day when you make chuunin and a little bit older."

"Don't flirt with Naruto-teme!" Kiba shouted, appearing in front of them and trying to pry Hana off of Naruto.

"Why not he's a cutie." Hana shot back, before leaning down and giving Naruto a quick peck on his forehead. Naruto couldn't help but blush, but then remembered what Kiba called him.

"Love you too, Kiba-chan." Naruto replied swiftly, "Plus, you're sister is so my type." Naruto replied, giving Kiba a leering smile.

"Shut up, what do you want?" Kiba said, giving into defeat. He knew he really couldn't outwit Naruto when it came to wordplay.

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to join me and grab lunch with Team Ten in a bit?" Naruto asked, giving Kiba a genuine smile.

"Really? Yeah, that sounds great. Can Akamaru come?" Kiba asked excitedly. Naruto had really asked him out on a man-date… He didn't know whether to jump up in joy, and then start tap dancing, or too play aloof with cool indifference.

Too late though…

"Yeah, I love that little pup. Go get him." Naruto replied and watched Kiba disappear from view as he sprinted to get Akamaru.

"I'll be waiting for you when I get older, Hana-chan." Naruto said offhandedly, giving the older chuunin a wink.

"We'll see." Hana replied grinning, before heading inside as well.

Moments later, Kiba returned with Akamaru in tow, hiding in the front of his jacket. "Is Sasuke coming?" Kiba asked.

"I don't think so, I stopped by his house but he wasn't there." Naruto replied.

"Don't you live in the Uchiha compound with him?" Kiba asked pointedly.

"Yeah, but we still keep our distance. Sasuke obsesses over his side where he and his parents lived and likes to keep everything in mint condition so I stay on the other end." Naruto responded.

The two of them headed off in silence.

They arrived Saigon's BBQ twenty minutes later, rather than hurry up and shunshin, they walked and talked, getting to know each other better. Stepping inside the restaurant, Naruto caught the waiter giving him a mean glare.

Rather than Chidori him in the face (which he really wanted to do right now), he opted to greet the waiter politely. "Afternoon, sir."

"Boy, you know you're not allowed…" the waiter began but Naruto cut him off.

"I will beat you senseless if you don't let me in with my friends. I came quietly and in peace, and yet you try my patience. Perhaps if I strung you up by your intestines, would you cease to bother me?" Naruto growled out, though most of it was testosterone induced bluffing.

"Very well. Where are your supposed friends?" the waiter asked, turning his nose up at Naruto.

"If you don't stop acting like a jackass, I have no problems beating your ass." Kiba snarled.

"I'm here to eat with the heirs of the Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka clan." Naruto responded.

The waiter wanted to voice his disbelief, but he was cut off as Ino suddenly launched herself into Naruto's arms, pushing herself flush against him and giving him a kiss. "Naruto-kun, you came." Ino shouted enthusiastically.

"Almost didn't thanks to the waiter here." Naruto replied, giving the waiter a scathing look, causing the short, bald man to wither and move away from the genin.

Naruto and Kiba followed Ino to the table where they were sitting and Naruto offered Shikamaru and Chouji a smile. "What's up Shika and Cho?" Naruto asked, sitting at the table, leaving room for Ino and Kiba.

The lazy genius yawned and offered Naruto a lazy grin. "Nothing much, Naruto. How have you been?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, we haven't seen you in a while. We heard you were on an awesome A-ranked mission. That's unheard of for a team of new genin." Chouji spoke, before shoveling some meat into his mouth.

At the mention of Nami, Naruto's smile faltered. "It…it was okay. We hit a couple of snags here and there, but we made it out alive, even if only barely." Naruto replied.

"Yeah, we were awesome out there, we kicked a lot of ass." Kiba replied boastfully, before leaning down to nuzzle the top of Akamaru's head, who let out a small yawn.

"That's one way of looking at it." Naruto offered, before bowing his head down. "Itadakimasu."

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked, genuinely interested.

"Things got ugly… The client lied to us about the classification of the mission. He claimed he wanted protection from bandits and paid for a C-ranked mission, when in reality he was being hunted down by Gatou of Gatou Industries. We were attacked by the Momochi Zabuza of Kiri as well as his B-ranked apprentice Haku, the Demon Brothers of Kiri, over a hundred bandits and ex-samurai, and one Nii Yugito of Kumo. It got pretty bad, but if it weren't for Naruto here, we'd be all dead." Kiba replied.

"I did alright. If it weren't for the Sharingan and Kakashi teaching me Chidori, I wouldn't have survived. Kiba did well, he and Yugito took out the bandits and ex-samurai, while Sasuke beat down the B-ranked apprentice Haku, enough for me to kill him anyway." Naruto shot back, unwilling to take all the credit.

"That sounds troublesome. Thank God it wasn't us out there, we would have been killed." Shikamaru replied.

"True, but because of it, Team Seven is set for life." Kiba responded.

'What do you mean?" Chouji mumbled out, food still in his mouth.

"Chouji, that's disgusting." Ino cried out, before leaning into Naruto's shoulder. Not wanting to turn her down in front of her friends, Naruto wrapped his arm around her and allowed her vanilla lavender smell to taint his senses.

"What Kiba means, is that we blackmailed Tazuna into giving us two percent of any profit Nami makes, each of us get two percent, so if Nami takes off like it's supposed to, we get rich." Naruto replied.

"What a drag… that could be a lot of money." Shikamaru spoke.

The five genin continued shooting shit and finished their meal. But like everything, all must come to an end. Hatake Kakashi walked in on them, and gave Naruto an eye frown. "Sorry to disturb your meal, but Naruto, you must come with me." Kakashi spoke dramatically.

"Ne, you always ruin things Kaka-niisan." Naruto replied without thinking, and thought of what he just called Kakashi. Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder in a placating manner.

"Come on, Naruto-kun."

Pulling money out of Gama-chan, he tossed it on the table. "Sorry to run guys, this should cover everyone's meal and the next few drinks or so." Giving the other genin an apologetic wave, he headed off with his teacher.

They walked in silence until they arrived in Training field seven. "What are we doing here?" Naruto asked politely. He was honestly confused, seeing as Kakashi was taking him here by himself on a day off.

"Jiraiya wanted to meet you here, he wants to show you something." Kakashi replied evenly.

Rather than be impetuous and ask what the Hokage needed to show him, he opted to be silent and follow his sensei. They walked for a bit until they could see the older Sannin concentrating, his hand held out.

"This is a good enough distance." Kakashi spoke.

"For what?" Naruto asked.

"The Rasengan. I know you want to be childish and not learn from me or Jiraiya but we want you to understand the power we're going to try to give you." Kakashi replied.

Jiraiya sent his chakra to his hand, the small vortex forming a small sphere in his hand, with chakra running rampant in it, swirling in different directions. "Rasengan!" Jiraiya yelled, before slamming the spherical orb of destruction into the earth. There was the sound of earth being grinded and suddenly Naruto found out why they were at a distance.

The dirt collapsed in itself and suddenly dirt was uprooted into the air and flying about, leveling out the area. Naruto stood there, eyes wide and mouth agape. "That's the Rasengan?" Naruto asked.

"More or less a watered down version." Kakashi replied. "We want to teach it to you, but only if you let go of your pride and let us." Kakashi continued.

Jiraiya shunshinned to where they were standing at. "How was that for a demonstration?" Jiraiya asked, beaming down upon the genin.

"Not bad, old man." Naruto replied, causing Jiraiya to arch an eyebrow at him.

"So do you want me to teach you, or will you let your pride stand in your way?" Jiraiya asked.

"My fat… The Yondaime created that jutsu?" Naruto asked.

Both of the seasoned veterans caught the slip up. "Yeah, he did. And we want you to learn it as well." Kakashi replied, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Fine…I humbly accept. I want to learn the Rasengan, Hokage-sama." Naruto responded and Jiraiya smiled at him.

"Smart boy, you'll be better than your old man in no time." Jiraiya replied.

"But I'm about to ask you a question, and I don't want you to bullshit with me. Why? Kakashi's already taught me the Chidori, which is in its own class. Why do you want me to learn the Rasengan?" Naruto asked.

"The Fourth was a genius, epically so. He created the Rasengan after three years of training taking spatial recompisition to new heights. It's a jutsu that requires no hand seals, and therefore cannot be copied by doujutsus such as the Sharingan, and even then it's incomplete." Jiraiya spoke boastfully, his eyes watering up as he thought fondly of the Yondaime Hokage.

"What do you mean it's incomplete?" Naruto asked, genuinely interested.

"The Fourth wanted to incorporate one's own element into the attack to make it S-ranked and above, but regrettably he died before he could ever do so. You probably don't know this, but Rasengan is where the Chidori stems from. The Yondaime taught it to me and when I tried to incorporate lightning into the attack, it failed so I created a jutsu solely based on elemental recompisition, namely the Chidori and then Raikiri." Kakashi admitted.

"But perhaps with time, you can go further than where the Yondaime and we failed and incorporate elemental chakra in it. We do have high hopes for you Naruto-kun." Jiraiya spoke gently, smiling at the stoic genin.

"Why me? Is it because I'm the vessel for the Kyuubi and you want me armed with more jutsus to kill others with?" Naruto asked timidly.

"No… We want you armed with jutsus because we want you to protect not only yourself but the village. Because of your existence, you and this village will be attacked by members of the Akatsuki. They want the bijuu you hold inside and kill you for it, then destroy the ninja world as we know it. We cannot allow that to happen." Jiraiya replied gravely.

"Why don't you exile me or kill me before something like that happens? Naruto asked.

Jiraiya paused for a second before replying. "As Hokage, perhaps it would be smart to do something like that, get rid of one to save thousands. But I as Jiraiya of the Sannin, Toad Sage and sensei to Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage, I couldn't do that." Jiraiya replied.

"Why not? Because I'm Minato's son?" Naruto asked timidly, unsure of where he stood with Jiraiya.

"Because you are Minato's son, and because I'm your godfather." Jiraiya revealed sadly.

Naruto didn't speak. His emotions were high, and memories bit into him like that fangs of the Kyuubi. The loneliness he suffered for so long rise to the surface, and anger…unfathomable anger rose, almost as if he had ripped the seal of the Kyuubi and let the damnable beast out.

"_Why don't you just die, you little shit?"_

"_You're a demon, you don't deserve happiness."_

"_You're such a beast, it's no wonder you're an orphan."_

"_DIE!!!"_

"_Why don't you stay dead?"_

"_Get out of my shop you filthy demon."_

"_You'll never become Hokage… You're just garbage."_

"_You're mother was a whore, filthy monster."_

"_DIE!!!"_

"_DIE!!!"_

"_DIE!!!"_

Naruto slumped and fell to his knees, the sadness of years without family, and the sadness of never having anybody loving him returning. And here was the Godaime Hokage, revealing to him that he was his godfather. The person who was supposed to have taken care of him when Minato and Kushina died.

Why was he always so alone?

Was this his destiny as Jinchiruuki? That the people who were destined to look after him end up dead or running away from him, leaving him to suffer.

His eyes watered up uncontrollably, letting tears slide down his cheeks unabashedly. Perhaps he truly was alone in this world. Covering up his face with his soft, yet calloused hands, he let out a wail that sent shivers into Jiraiya's bones, reminding the Sannin of his failures as said godfather.

"You bastard." Naruto sobbed out angrily, looking back up to Jiraiya, his tears shining brightly in the sunlight. "I'll never forgive you… not you or the Yondaime. Until I die and beyond the grave, I will forever hold a grudge against you for leaving me to suffer in the shithole of a village. I don't care what reasons you had, you knew…"

"I'm so sorry Naruto."

Naruto continued on as if he hadn't heard him. "You knew… and yet you never came back for me. You let them hate me, never once stopping to think of how I was doing, you…bastard. You son of a bitch, Jiraiya." Naruto cursed, swallowing a sob.

Jiraiya swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "I was busy tracking Orochimaru down as well…"

"You were writing porn for fuck's sake. If you had time for that, couldn't you have visited me?" Naruto spat out, standing back up to his feet.

"Naruto…" Kakashi tried to intervene, but Naruto brushed him off.

"Don't make excuses for him sensei," Naruto replied, drying his tears of with his shirt. His neon green eyes hardened into cold steel with rage. "You didn't have to take me with you, all you had to do was visit me, even if it was once a year, just to let me know that someone cared, that someone loved me and that I wasn't alone. To let me know I was suffering for a reason, and you didn't. You didn't care about me then, and you don't get to now" Naruto finished, his body shaking with barely restrained anger.

"I wanted to Naruto, believe me I did, but time fly faster than even I could believe. I was so obsessed with bringing Orochimaru back, that I neglected my duties as a godfather." Jiraiya offered apologetically.

"With all due respect, it is pointless now. I believe Kakashi-sensei here was going to teach me the Rasengan. I don't think there's more for us to say, Hokage-sama." Naruto declared softly, damning his eyes for water up.

Jiraiya winced at his tone. He deserved it and he knew it. "Yes, we're going to teach you Rasengan, Kakashi knows a bit of it, but I'm the current master at it." Jiraiya replied.

"Fine, let's get this over with, I'm pretty sure you have more porn to write, ne godfather?"

Jiraiya sighed in defeat.

VII

"We're going to blow up Suna, yeah. Now that will be my favorite work of art, my beauty." Deidara declared, as the four S-ranked missing nin continued onward on their trek to Suna.

"Blowing things up as you so eloquently put it, Deidara-kun, is not beauty. My mastery of puppet making is beauty, forever looking the same and never changing, an ethereal beauty, puppetry is." Sasori said, chastising the enthusiastic Akatsuki member.

"Remember, we are not here to exhaust ourselves. We just want to draw the three jinchiruuki out, then capture them, not blow up an entire nation, Deidara." Itachi reminded the effeminate Iwa nukenin.

"You sure are a party pooper, Itachi-chan. Don't you want us to have any fun?" Kisame asked.

"Have fun all you like Kisame, as long as it does not interfere with our mission." Itachi shot back, his face ever so stoic.

"Deidara, have you sent out the clay bird with the message that we're coming? We do want Konoha to get here just in time?" Itachi asked.

"What do you think I am, stupid? Or perhaps you're just excited to see your old village once again, nostalgic much Itachi-chan?" Deidara asked.

Itachi moved so swiftly, that none of them had time to react. The next second Deidara was screaming as phantom pain tore into him, unlike anything he had ever known.

"Remember that I left you alive on a whim, and that you are nothing to me. The name is Uchiha Itachi to you, Deidara-chan, never forget that." Itachi growled out.

"Was that necessary, Itachi-chan?" Kisame asked, earning a glare from the Uchiha.

"Okay, I get the point."

VIII

Gamaraido ducked a swift swing of the Raikage's blade, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. "Son of a bitch!" The dark skinned Raikage cursed. "Konoha has Yugito." Pondering what to do, he paced back and forth in his office.

"Those cocky, arrogant little shits. Jiraiya will pay for this, make no doubt about it. You do not cross the Yondaime Raikage. Samui, summon Hachi Kira and the council at once!" he ordered the big breasted chuunin.

She disappeared and minutes later, the 8 tailed jinchiruuki and the senior members of the Council arrived in the Raikage's office. "What seems to be the problem, Raikage-sama?" Nakamaru Hitomi, senior member of the council asked politely, wondering what had the Raikage so angered.

"Apparently on that mission Yugito was sent to in Nami, she attacked some Leaf-nins and got captured. Now the Hokage is using that act the Shodai created, stating that if we use a jinchiruuki against them in a time of peace, they can keep the captured vessel." The Raikage stormed.

Murmurs began spreading through the room as several members voiced their disbelief. "How, how could Yugito lose to those bastards?" One of them asked.

"I don't know who would be strong enough to take Yugito down but the Hokage and maybe the Copy nin Hatake Kakashi himself. We cannot let this trespass go without punishment." The Raikage replied angrily.

"Are you suggesting we go to war against them?" Hachi Kira asked.

"Yes, that's full well what I'm suggesting. I say we barter up a treaty with Iwa and new village called Oto and swarm Konoha. Konoha is very limited to it's allies and if we can corner them, we can make them pay for the Third Great Ninja War." The Raikage replied.

"Are you sure it's a good idea? We still have Hachi Kira after all, it was just the Nibi." Hitomi asked.

"What if next time they want Hachi Kira, not to mention with Akatsuki lurking around, we need Yugito when they attack?" the Yondaime Raikage asked.

"Exactly, with the Akatsuki on the loom, why have jinchiruuki after all?" another member asked.

"Because there will always be war, and they are our weapons." The Raikage replied evenly.

Hachi Kira grunted in response.

"We need Yugito, point blank. We shall send Hachi Kira and his team to Konoha with a small platoon in order to demand that they return the girl, and if they don't comply, Hachi Kira will use the Hachibi and annihilate the village, level it completely. Either way, we're getting Nii Yugito back in Kumo." The Raikage ordered.

"When should I head out, Raikage-sama?" Hachi Kira asked.

"Now, summon your team while I gather up the platoon." The Raikage ordered.

Hachi Kira disappeared, leaving with a bad taste in his mouth.

Things were about to get ugly, real ugly indeed.

After sending his carrier bird out to his team, they appeared within a few minutes. "What's up, Kirabi?" Samui asked, giving her sensei an odd look. It had been quite some time since he called them for anything.

"Kirabi-sensei, is it true about Yugito-sama?" Omoi asked, the dark-skinned blonde asked. Omoi had always been a great tactician, he fitted very well in the team, considering that the jounin-sensei was a jinchiruuki rapper, a big breasted bitch who was a renowned tease, and his sister Karui, who he loved to bag on for being relatively flat chested.

Especially in comparison to Samui.

"Yeah, apparently she attacked some Konoha nin and they managed to defeat her and imprison her in Konoha. The Raikage wants us to bring her back, and if Konoha refuses, simply annihilate the village. Should it come to that, I will be unleashing the Hachibi and reaping havoc, you guys on the other hand will be hitting up the civilians and junior shinobi. All of you are damn good chuunin, and I expect nothing short of excellence from you."

The three shinobi saluted their jounin-sensei. "Hai!" They all said simultaneously.

Team Samui and Kirabi disappeared in a flash, heading up to the Raikage, and then onward to their mission.

IX

_Godaime Jiraiya-dono,_

_I just received a letter from the Akatsuki, declaring war upon us in an attempt to take my beloved son Gaara from us. Since we are allied nations, it is imperative for you to help us. Please Godaime, assist us in this battle against the Akatsuki, I know that you too have a jinchiruuki amongst your ranks. We, Sunagakure will help fight your battles against Akatsuki in the future, but for now, assist us in this battle and we will pay each shinobi you send payment for an SS-Ranked mission._

_Very Respectfully,_

_Sabaku no Urameshii, Yondaime Kazekage of Sunagakure, Leading Shinobi of Kaze no Kuni_

Jiraiya sighed, running his hands through his long mane of hair. This upcoming attack by the Akatsuki was unprecedented. According to his intel, they weren't even supposed to go after the bijuu for another three years. He had planned on having Naruto trained to handle himself by then, so he wouldn't have to worry much.

Just exactly who the hell was he going to send to fight Suna's battle for now? He really couldn't send Naruto there, the boy had just turned thirteen earlier this week, and he hadn't even mastered the Rasengan yet, let alone Hiraishin.

He knew he could send Nii Yugito, but she was inseparable to his godson. None of his jounin were nowhere nearly qualified to handle any of Akatsuki's S-ranked shinobi. But if he didn't act upon the Kazekage's plea for help, it could backfire and have negative consequences for Konoha later on.

They really were in deep shit.

Despite wanting to, he obviously couldn't go into battle himself. He was the Godaime Hokage and Konoha itself wouldn't allow him to leave for such a dangerous task.

Just what was he going to do? Forming the cross hand seal, Jiraiya summoned up a kage bunshin, and left it to do his daily paperwork, which is what he usually did anyway. After giving it instructions, he took off, heading towards the Council's chambers to seek advice for the dire situation.

An hour later, everybody was summoned and in their seats. Sarutobi Hiruzen was now Head of the Council, which was ironic considering how much he argued and fought them in his reign. "Jiraiya-kun, why have you summoned us so abruptly?" Sarutobi asked openly and unabashedly.

"Akatsuki is making its move, sensei. Sunagakure is pleading for help and we're light enough on shinobi as is. But if we disregard their plea, we could make enemies of a nation we worked so hard to ally ourselves with." Jiraiya explained.

"The Akatsuki want jinchiruuki, do they not?" Hiashi spoke up.

"Yes, the Akatsuki want to capture the jinchiruuki and extract the bijuu from them." Jiraiya replied gravely.

"Then it would not be smart to send Uzumaki or Yugito for such a task." Hiashi declared.

"Who the hell else are we going to send? While we have plenty of elite jounin, how many do you think can handle S-ranked missing nin?" Jiraiya asked.

"Send the brat. It's him they want anyway, we don't want to piss off the Akatsuki after all." One of the civilians replied.

"Normally that would be unwise, but two jinchiruuki might do. But we're not sending them on a suicidal mission, I do intend for them to return." Jiraiya declared. "I am the boy's godfather, and I will not tolerate any biased remarks based on what is sealed and imprisoned within him." Jiraiya argued.

"Who else can we send that would be significant enough for this. Hatake Kakashi obviously, but who else?" Sarutobi asked.

"I'm honestly thinking that Inoichi, Shikaku, and Chouza should go, but not as actual fighter, rather backup and for interrogation purposes." Jiraiya replied.

He looked up apologetically to the old Ino-Shika-Cho team. They nodded their heads in acceptance, knowing full well that they were needed. Better them than their children.

"You guys will need good scouts. I will offer my help." Hiashi spoke, closing his eyes, realizing that situation was indeed heavy.

"Thank you Hiashi-dono. We're going to need an Inuzuka and Tenzou. Definitely Tenzou to counter the youkai incase it gets to be too much for Naruto or Yugito." Jiraiya nodded thankfully.

"Leave the Inuzuka, Hatake will be the tracker. I will go as well." Sarutobi offered, standing up to his feet.

"Sensei, what the fuck are you talking about, you can't go. You are retired, and too old to fight off some nukenin." Jiraiya complained.

"Even so, we are delaying the inevitable. Jiraiya-chan, we both know my time on this earth is limited, I might as well make the best of it. As Hokage, it is one's duty to protect the younger generation's Will of Fire. Even if I die on this mission against the Akatsuki, it will be all worth it. I would gladly die for such a cause." Sarutobi declared, reminding the Council of why he was known as Kami no Shinobi, the God of Shinobi.

"Sensei, don't."

"We have no choice Jiraiya. Powerful as I am, what good is all that power if I'm sitting her like a politician?" Sarutobi asked.

Jiraiya hung his head in defeat.

"Alright, Team Seven and Nii Yugito will go first, two hours later Hiashi, Kakashi, Tenzou and the Sandaime will go. Lastly the Ino-Shika-Cho will go as backup. Any questions?" Jiraiya asked.

No one said nothing.

It was a dark day in Konoha…

…and it would only get darker.

A/N: Woo! 24 pages and +10,000 words. My longest chapter to date, anyway, this story is heading towards its climax. I'm hoping to get 100,000 words out of it, and end it around chapter 20 or so, but we'll see. Maybe more with the possibility of a Fourth Great Ninja War. Or I'll leave that for the sequel, Requiem of Death, followed by Requiem of a God. I love this fic, it's my favorite, and I honestly hope you enjoy it as well as I do.

Interview with the author:

Q: How did you even come up with this fic?

A: Honestly I don't know, I always wondered what would have happened if certain things went a certain way. The Road Less Taken was my abrupt jump into Naruto fanfiction, and while that fic is fun, Requiem focused more on the darker side of humanity, rather than the romantic nonsense and love amongst family members that TRLT brings.

Q: Any spoilers for the future?

A: Character death. A lot of it, well, at least five or six. We'll see. Also, don't expect Naruto to get hot and heavy with Yugi-chan in this fic, for fuck's sake he's thirteen. Not to mention, the return of a few crowd favorites, and lastly, you'll find out why the fics called Requiem of a Demon.

Q: What about Naruto and Ino Yamanaka?

A: It's complicated.

Q: Nothing else you want to say?

A: Thank you to my readers, I never would have expected for this fic to be as liked as it was, so it was a pleasant surprise for me. Thank you guys, you guys make me want to write more. You made this my first fic on to hit 100 reviews as well as now 200 reviews. Thank you and keep them coming.

Q: Thank you for your time Daniel Nieves!

A: Anytime.


	11. The Chamber of Time and Requirement

Requiem of a Demon

Chapter Eleven: The Chamber of Time and Requirement

By: Daniel Nieves

A/N: Been a while since the last update of Requiem, or the Road Less Taken. Sorry, basically I was deployed to this new LPD called the MESA VERDE and had this badass mission to do. So here's the next installation of Requiem.

I

There was a soft knock on the door, much to the spiky haired blonde's irritation. Opening up his eyes, he rolled out of bed, dressed in a pair of cute pajamas, opposite of what the shinobi truly was. He was a ninja, a killer, and had long since stopped being a child like the rest of the lambs.

Walking towards the door, his feet echoing soft pit patting, he opened the door, and stared at Nii Yugito, clad in the normal chuunin attire, with black pants and shirt and a green chuunin flak vest over the front. Her hitai-ate was wrapped around her forehead, unlike many of the kunoichi he met, who tried to look feminine even throughout their missions.

She definitely looked ready to kill, and ultimately, she was hot. "Yes, Yugito-san." Naruto answered formally, not really trying to start the usual banter he seemed to ease in with the ex-Kumo kunoichi.

"Happy belated birthday. Anyway, vacation's up, we got a new mission and I'm replacing Kaka-hentai temporarily as your squad leader." Yugito replied, and the blond genin almost smiled. She had wished him happy birthday. "Here's your birthday present." She continued, and handed him a few slips of paper.

They were all you can eat ramen coupons to Ichiraku. "Hai. Thank you, Yugito-san." Naruto replied dumbfounded.

"Respectfully request permission to come in and discuss mission perimeters?" Yugito asked, bowing her head low.

"Stop being so formal Yugito. One, you're a chuunin and I'm a genin, so I should be technically bowing to you, even though I'm not. Two, come in, let's discuss the nature of this mission." Naruto stepped back, and allowed Yugito entrance.

The chuunin and genin stepped in and sat on Naruto's suede couch. Naruto clasped his hands together, and turned to look at the fellow jinchiruuki, "What is going on, what's this next mission? Is it something cool?" Naruto asked.

"It is a mission of grave importance. You do know of the existence of the Akatsuki I'm assuming?" Yugito asked.

"Yes, it's a band of nine shinobi, all S-ranked or above who try to capture all nine bijuu and conquer the shinobi world." Naruto replied softly, remember that Uchiha Itachi, the man who spared him of a blind world was part of that organization.

"Hai. Well the Akatsuki are going to attack Sunagakure and attempt to collect the one tailed bijuu. Three teams, a total of eleven shinobi are going to attempt to stop them. According to Jiraiya-sama's intel, there are four Akatsuki members for this mission." Yugito spoke.

"Four, all for one jinchiruuki?" Naruto asked doubtfully.

"I figured you would suspect something as well. According to Jiraiya, it could be either to level the entire village, or to lure us out and capture me and you as well." Yugito replied.

"So why the hell are you and I going, isn't that self defeating?" Naruto shot back.

"Yes, but Jiraiya suspects that the Raikage will attempt to start a war while we are away. It's a catch twenty two. Most likely, we will be going to war against Kumo, and if we ignore the Kazekage's plea, he will ally himself against us. So for that, Jiraiya is sticking behind with some top jounin, canceling the chuunin exams and preparing for a war. We on the other hand must defeat the Akatsuki with little to no deaths on our side and return to Konoha to resume the assumed battle." Yugito replied softly.

It would be stupid to deny that she was scared, she was scared out of her wits. For so long she'd worked alone, now she had to lead a team against the Akatsuki forces, four S-ranked shinobi with a pair of fresh genin.

"He's canceling the chuunin exams, damn it must really be bad for him to cancel possible sponsoring and funding from the Daimyo." Naruto said pointedly.

"Yes, it is. But we must do what we have to do. According to Jiraiya-sama, chuunin promotions will be earned on the field, rather than through some outdated tests or so as he put it." Yugito replied.

"How long do we have until we head out?" Naruto asked.

"We have less than three hours to be fully prepared, get dressed and follow me the Hokage's office. He also told me to relay to you to not worry about Nin tools or clothing, simply to throw on an outfit and follow me there." Yugito relayed.

Naruto gave her a quizzical look, before smiling, unable to help himself. "Did you want me to change right now, in front of you?" Naruto asked, smiling as Yugito's eyes lit in self-righteous anger.

"You're pushing it Naruto. And here I thought you weren't always an asshole." She replied.

Naruto stood up and gave her an amused grin. "Yet you haven't really answered the question, Yugi-chan." He shot back.

Taking the bait, before flipping it back on him, the fourteen-year-old chuunin stood up as well, before grabbing the front of his shirt and slamming him against the wall. Pushing the hair out of his eyes, Yugito pressed herself fully against him, her pelvic flush against his and got within mere inches of kissing him.

"I'd bet you'd like that, unfortunately for you, I don't want you." She bit off, releasing him.

Naruto smirked at that, before grabbing the fellow jinchiruuki and spinning her, pressing her against the wall. Grabbing hold of her flak vest, his lips lingered by the hollow of her throat, his warm breath tickling her. "Unfortunately for you, we both know that's a lie." He replied, releasing her and heading back towards his room to change.

When he returned, Yugito almost lost her breath. He came out dressed in dark blue shinobi pants, a dark blue undershirt cut off at the sleeves with a white, plain high collared jacket, making him look nearly exactly like the Yondaime Hokage sans the whiskers and chuunin flak vest. "Like the digs?" Naruto replied smirking, before walking out of his door with Yugito on his trail.

"Sasuke and Kiba, are they meeting us up there as well?" Naruto asked, ignoring the scathing looks the villagers shot him on the way to the Hokage's office.

"How dare he attempt to look like the Fourth? The very man he killed, fucking runt…" One of them growled out.

Naruto continued on his way as if he never heard anything. "Don't ignore us you little shit? How dare you?" Another cried out, tossing Naruto an evil glare. One of the braver ones actually ran up to him.

"Take that jacket off, you dirty demon."

Naruto stopped in mid step and swiveled around to look at the incredulous civilian. "What did you call me you fucking piece of shit?" Naruto asked, his cerulean eyes bleeding into red.

"I called you a filthy, disgusting, low life demon. You should have died on October tenth, thirteen years ago." The civilian shrieked, and Naruto lost his temper.

Before the man could react, Naruto had grabbed him by the throat, covering the space between them at a speed that Yugito hadn't been able to catch and lifted him up as high as his arms would allow. "I could kill you for treason, I should kill you for treason. Next time, I might become the Kyuubi as you villagers claim I am, and destroy you and your family. But fortunately, I'm not, and you, you weak sack of monkey flesh, aren't worth getting my hands bloody for." Naruto growled out, before tossing him aside helplessly into a crate of fruit.

"Naruto…c'mon, let's go to the Hokage's office hastily before anything else happens." Yugito urged.

Blood red eyes interlocked with hers. "Hai, chuunin-san." Naruto leveled out through bared fangs. His whiskers were more pronounced, darker even.

Yugito chose not to reply and agitate the fellow jinchiruuki. They arrived at the Hokage's office fairly quickly. Once they did, the Hokage's secretary Raido asked for Naruto to go in the office alone at first and for Yugito to stay outside.

"Come Naruto-san, the Hokage would like a word with you." Raido beckoned.

Naruto already knew the Hokage would bitch about what just happened minutes ago, but he didn't really care. If anything, the Hokage should thank him for not killing the irritating bastard. Stepping inside the office, Naruto chose not to get off on a bad start and stood at attention, giving the wall behind Jiraiya a thousand yard stare.

After using a sound sealing seal on the door so the conversation remained private, Jiraiya turned to the boy. "What the fuck was that out there in the courtyards?" Jiraiya demanded, his face flushing in anger.

"I do not understand the question." Naruto drawled out.

"Why the bloody hell would you threaten a civilian, let alone his family?" Jiraiya yelled, giving the boy what he dubbed, the 'stink eye'.

"Why the hell wouldn't I? He committed treason, broke a law that dictates immediate execution." Naruto replied.

"Don't take that fucking tone of voice with me. I'm fighting everyday against the fucking Council trying to prove that you're more than a demon or a weapon and yet you deliberately chose to prove them right. I don't give a damn what he called you or what he did, you do not put your hands on a civilian and choke them in public like some deranged sociopath." Jiraiya yelled once more.

"Perhaps I am what the Council thinks of me, or better yet, perhaps I am the Kyuubi in human flesh…" Naruto never got to finish the statement as Jiraiya slapped him hard across the face.

The slap was enough to snap his neck to the side, his cheek ringing in pain. "Don't ever say something as stupid as that again, Naruto." Jiraiya warned.

"It's true, you have no way of knowing. Perhaps it would be better for you to stop fighting on my behalf, and let my actions speak for themselves. I am a shinobi of Konohagakure, fighting everyday to protect the village from harm, if that is not enough prove for these idiots, then I will not attempt to change their mind." Naruto replied.

"Do you know what would happen if I stopped fighting for you? They would lock you up, experiment on you, before ultimately killing you." Jiraiya shot back angrily.

"They day they make that move against me, will be the day of reckoning. It will be the day Uzumaki Naruto is no more, having ripped the seal that ties the Kyuubi to this flesh and unleashes him to wreak havoc. Konoha doesn't want a hero, and on that day I will cease to stop fighting for this village and simply let it burn like my innocence. Like the lives of the slain Uchiha, whose blood soaks the ground and cries out to me for retribution." Naruto returned softly, not really threatening Jiraiya, but merely letting him know the consequences.

"I cannot have an unstable jinchiruuki in my army, one who so easily threatens Konoha." Jiraiya mustered out.

"It's easy to call someone unstable, when the very village he's sworn to protect wants him dead at all costs. If it weren't for Sandaime-jiji and very few others, I surmise Konoha would have been destroyed long ago." Naruto returned.

"If you weren't Minato's kid and my godson, I'd kill you right now." Jiriaya threatened.

"I'm not Minato's kid, and I'm not your godson. The same warning that goes for this village goes to you Hokage-sama. Don't test my patience, don't test my loyalty, and don't threaten me unless you wish to cease from existence."

The genin and Hokage stared each other down for a few seconds. "Are you loyal to the village?" Jiraiya asked.

"I am loyal to a few that reside in it. Therefore Konoha's welfare is in my best interests. Otherwise I'd be neutral to the nation itself, if not bitter." Naruto replied dangerously.

"What if I told you I wanted you to be my successor? To change Konoha as we know it, stop the distrust of jinchiruuki and make this a better place. Would you join me and your father amongst those ranks?" Jiraiya asked.

"No." Naruto bit off curtly.

"Why not?" Jiraiya asked.

"The Shodai and Nidai were bigoted idiots. Sandai was a naïve trusting fool, Yondai was a naïve idiot, a horrible sperm donor, and the Godai, he's a sad hentai who shirks all duties when it comes to people. All of them have slighted their people, I do not wish to be like any of you." Naruto spoke levelly, keeping the ire out of his eyes.

"Naruto…we are all flawed. Even the Hokages down the you the genin, are all flawed. But it's our love for this village that causes it to prosper. Don't you want this village to prosper?" Jiraiya asked solemnly, giving the thirteen year old a sad look.

_I want this village to burn…Naruto thought angrily._

_**So do I… **_another voice invaded Naruto's thoughts, malignant and full of ire. The Kyuubi must be trying to force his influence upon him, Naruto mused before shutting the voice away.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. But it won't be through my hands that this village prospers." Naruto retorted, "As long as I'm alive with the Kyuubi inside of me, I will never be Hokage." Naruto finished, neon green eyes locking with the Hokage's liquid brown ones.

"And that's why I'm going to mold Konoha for you Naruto. Like a potter, I will put Konoha through trial of fire until it's nothing more than soft clay, and one day, you'll finish the complete project and sculpt it to your liking." Jiraiya finished, clasping his calloused hands together.

"We'll see when that day arrives." Naruto replied, "In the meantime, what's going on with this mission?" Naruto continued.

"As Yugito must have briefed you, the Akatsuki are on the move and about to attack Sunagakure. And they're trying to draw you and Yugito out there, problem is, you too are the only ones who could remotely even have a chance against the Akatsuki, barring myself, Sandaime, and Hatake Kakashi. But on the other hand, no other jounin is nowhere near S-ranked, and is in no way shape or form ready to take the Akatsuki.

"Then again, neither is your team. But you and Yugito have the bijuu sealed away within you full of destructive chakra, and Sasuke has the Sharingan as well as Uchiha blood running through his veins." Jiraiya finished morosely.

"So the situation is so dire, you're willing to send, a team of genin, plus one chuunin to fight numerous S-ranked personnel, who want three of nine bijuu to destroy the world? That sounds about right?" Naruto asked sarcastically.

"Actually Kiba's not going on this mission. He needs some time to adapt to shinobi life after this last mission in Nami. He might join you in the submission prior to your departure. But if it makes you feel comfortable, there will be two back up teams sent in two-hour intervals after you head out. In one team, you'll have your sensei Kakashi, Yamato who is an ex-Anbu, Hyuuga Hiashi, and the Sandaime Sarutobi Hiruzen will be the second team. Lastly, the former Ino-Shika-Cho team will be the final backup for capture and interrogation." Jiraiya replied.

"Jiji's fighting?" Naruto asked, his eyes downcast.

"He wanted to fight for you Naruto. He wants to earn your forgiveness, even if it means losing his life. Also as Hokage, it's his mission to protect Konoha and all it's citizens from people like the Akatsuki." Jiraiya spoke, seeing the boy's turmoil.

"He's too old to fight this fight." Naruto sputtered out, "He shouldn't be fighting this fight, not for something as trivial as forgiveness from me." Naruto continued, his eyes starting to water up.

"Take him off the team." Naruto demanded.

"I can't, Sarutobi-sensei's going on way or another, he's a stubborn old goat when he wants to be." Jiraiya explained.

Naruto folded his arms over each other and pondered for a second. "What's so strong about this Akatsuki or even the possibility of a war against Kumo that you're canceling the Chuunin exams?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya looked at him for a second before answering. "As you know, Uchiha Itachi is in the Akatsuki, he ranks fifth in their ranks and people thought he was the second coming of the Yondaime. The leader, Uchiha Madara faced off against your father, Namikaze Minato, and left the fight without a scratch. He's a beast parallel to no one, second to the Shodai at the time, simply because he hadn't mastered his Eien no Mangekyou Sharingan. Akatsuki is nothing to be trifled with.

"We don't have much info on the rest of their members, but we can assume they are not a joke. One of their members, Deidara was able to murder the Yondaime Tsuchikage with some unknown jutsu. Now as per Kumogakure, they will attack in order to get Yugito back, that's why I'm sending her on this mission. Not to mention, they have a second jinchiruuki, the Hachibi sealed away within the Raikage's brother. The reason I'm sending you on this mission is because I don't want a full scale war against the Akatsuki on Konoha ground, and they will be after you, and until they're defeated they'll be relentless. You, Uzumaki Naruto, vessel for the Kyuubi have to fight against them. If I shy you away from them, you will never be able to handle the upcoming dangers. So despite the fact that I want you to be safe, I need you to become stronger, a hell of a lot stronger than you currently are." Jiraiya muttered.

"Which brings me to my next question…?" Naruto began, turning his head sideways to look at the Hokage quizzically. "What is the Eien no Mangekyou Sharingan that Uchiha Madara has? Also, what the hell is this sub-mission you're on about?" Naruto asked.

"The first part is easy. Mangekyou Sharingan can be obtained only through one way… one must kill their closest friend, or so the scroll roughly translates. As you know, you don't have the true Mangekyou, yours is a combination of Itachi's version and the Kyuubi modifying the genetics in your body." Jiraiya grunted out.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto fired back.

Jiraiya sighed at the inquisitive boy. He reminded him of Minato more than Naruto could admit.

"Your Mangekyou isn't yours. You never killed your closest friend. When Itachi implanted the eyes into you, as Kyuubi healed you, somehow it wrote the Uchiha's Sharingan into your DNA permanently. You will always have the Sharingan now without the drawbacks that Kakashi faces. It's like you're an Uchiha now, but not really. When Itachi gave part of his power to you, not only did it give you his knowledge, hindsight, instincts and jutsu, but unintentionally, or intentionally he gave you the Mangekyou. So while you have the Mangekyou, it's not really yours, it's a copy of Itachi's at the point of transfer." Jiraiya explained, nearly smiling seeing the genin so enraptured by his story.

"Oh…I get it. Same with Sasuke?"

"Yeah. If you or Sasuke were to kill each other or something, you'd have a true version of it, designed solely for you."

Naruto was quiet for a second. "There's no other way? To get that power?"

Jiraiya stared into Naruto's neon green orbs. "None that I know of. Like I said, the scrolls were roughly translated, and there have only been a total of sixteen Mangekyou users in the entire one hundred and seventy years of the clan's existence." Jiraiya said, before stopping for a second. "There could be another way… but you'd have to figure that out for yourself." Jiraiya continued.

"Fine, what about the Eien version?" Naruto spoke.

"The Mangekyou's main drawback is that it blinds the user. As punishment for having killed one's best friend, the user of the Mangekyou will be blinded after repeated use. On the other hand, if you were to kill your brother, a Mangekyou user himself, and take his eyes, you'd have the Eien, a permanent, eternal version. It's also an upgrade from the already powerful Mangekyou, and you don't blind yourself in its use." Jiraiya explained.

"So to be the strongest Uchiha, you had to kill your best friend, then your brother. The Uchiha were so fucked up in the head." Naruto commented, avoiding Jiraiya's gaze for a second.

"Now as for the sub-mission, you don't have to agree, though your teammates have. There's an artifact very precious to me, which I always keep close by. It's the scroll leading to the Chamber of Time and Requirement. It was bestowed to me by Hanzou of Ame when he gave my teammates and me the title 'Densetsu no Sannin'. Each of us was given a special artifact for nearly beating that bastard. Orochimaru was given the Kusanagi, Tsunade was given some powerful medical scroll passed down by the Rikudo Sennin, and I was given a scroll as well.

"I'm not sure about what the other's do or don't do, but my scroll is for one time use only. It can either send a person back in time to change something, or send them to an alternate universe momentarily where two days in there are two hours back home. In that universe, that pocket of space is everything that the users need. I want you to enter with your teammates and train for two years, return more powerful and badass, get promoted to chuunin or jounin and head down to Sunagakure and fight one of the biggest battles of your life. I won't send you there if you refuse the offer. Otherwise it'd be suicide. So what do you say?" Jiraiya asked.

"This is fucking crazy. I don't really have much of a choice. I could not go and then be destroyed by the Akatsuki or Kumo. Or I could do this crazy thing you're talking about and be mildly prepared for whatever happens. I guess I'll do it. But if you could go back in time using that, why…"

"Why did I not save your father from sealing the Kyuubi, if I could go back in time?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah…" Naruto replied softly, still averting his gaze.

"Simple. Your father told me not to. He knew of my scroll and he requested I didn't stop him from doing it. He didn't want anyone to seal the Kyuubi but him, because he didn't want to be around to look at you, knowing he had fucked your life up." Jiraiya explained gently.

"Son of a…" Naruto seethed out, but Jiraiya interrupted him.

"Don't hate him for it… Minato-kun was human like all of us, he had just lost Kushina in childbirth, and couldn't handle the thought of living a life not only without her, but in which he had been forced to seal a demon within his son. He couldn't find any other way to stop the Kyuubi and in his love for the village he sacrificed you." Jiraiya continued.

"Had it been anybody but him, the Kyuubi would of have broken out of its cage and destroyed us. Minato had to die to save the village, do you understand that? It's not like he wanted to abandon you, but rather he had no choice."

Naruto looked forlorn for a second. "It's of no consequence. Let's just start this training and get it over and done with." Naruto bit off, finally looking into the old man's eyes.

"Hai. Naruto, before we do this, I'm going to say this one last thing. Even if you never forgive me and your father, we all loved you, and we still do." Jiraiya said gently.

Naruto chose not to respond.

Moments later they were joined by Sasuke, Yugito, Kakashi, an unknown man, and Kiba. "Are you ready for this?" Jiraiya asked them one last time for confirmation.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." They all said simultaneously.

"Roger. You will take with you scrolls, containing the secrets to some of Konoha's most prized techniques. Each of you will have a unique scroll, Sasuke yours will have some of the Uchiha's most powerful attacks. Yugito, you will have a scroll based on lightning manipulation. Also, you should probably master using your Nibi's youkai, until you're able to handle both tails of chakra. Naruto, you on the other hand are tasked with the hardest task. Using Yamato and Kakashi, you must master the Kyuubi's chakra, as many tails as you can handle. Also you have to master lightning manipulation and learn as many diverse jutsus as possible, including mastering the Rasengan. You do know that it's an incomplete jutsu, correct?" Jiraiya asked candidly.

"No, I did not know that." Naruto replied.

"Your father created the Rasengan, an A-ranked jutsu solely on shape manipulation, and the application of chakra without hand seals so it couldn't be copied by the Uchiha. Afterwards, he tried to incorporate nature manipulation into the attack and never completed it before his death. If possible I would like you to create your own devastating technique, and master a secret technique left in your scroll. It can only be opened using your blood and your blood only." Jiraiya explained.

"Why is that?" Naruto asked.

"It's a scroll left by your father, the Yondaime. I have no idea as it its contents." Jiriaya replied.

If boy was surprised he didn't show it, he faced remained apathetic.

"Hai."

Jiraiya turned to a vault and bit his thumb, bloodying it, before smearing it across the seal written across the opening. There was a cloud of smoke, before it suddenly opened, revealing several scrolls inside. Pulling all of them out, he turned to the members of Team Seven and handed everyone their scroll. "Kiba, you also have a task at hand. Seeing as how you mastered all three techniques Kakashi showed you, you're task is to become a master at wind manipulation, till it becomes second nature to you. By the time you genin leave, I want all of you to become at least B-ranked chuunin for the mission you will partake in, except you Kiba. Ultimately, it's too dangerous for you." Jiraiya spoke softly, not wanting to hurt the genin's feelings.

Kiba nodded his understanding, but didn't speak.

"If no one else has anything to say, are you ready?" Jiraiya asked.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Sasuke cut in, his face remaining apathetic.

"No, I'm not. I've studied the seals for years, and the end result I've come up with is that either it works, or absolutely nothing happens. If the latter happens, we're fucked." Jiraiya replied candidly.

No one else spoke. Though Naruto did give the ex-Anbu member a wary glance. "Do I make you uneasy, seeing as how I used to be an ANBU black op member?" Yamato asked bluntly.

Neon locked in with brown. "Yeah, you kinda do." Naruto replied.

Yamato gave him what was supposed to be a genuine smile, only furthering Naruto's discomfort.

Jiraiya amidst all this swiped his bloody thumb across the scroll, before going through a sequence of hand seals. He didn't call out any technique, instead merely forced as much chakra as he could muster into the scroll. The kanji began running wild before forming a perimeter around the crew. Jiraiya backed away from it, so he didn't get caught in it.

A litany of seals began running up Naruto's leg and into his mouth, nearly forcing him to scream in anger. There was no true pain, simply raw discomfort to the fullest. Naruto opened his bleary eyes and saw the same was happening to the other five.

"It's like some sort of Reverse Summoning technique…" Jiraiya pointed out, and suddenly there was a loud burst as smoke burst through the seals and scrolls and suddenly the six shinobi vanished.

"Okay that was fucking cool." Jiraiya said, laughing.

II

There was a loud crack, and the same six shinobi appeared elsewhere. The sight that awaited them was nerve racking, it appeared to be endless stream of white. The space was white, the floor on which they stood on was white. The only thing with color was them, and a large mansion off to the side.

There was someone standing in the front, his aura coming off of him in waves. He was powerful, whoever was on the other end, stronger than all of them combined. The ragtag group of shinobi walked forward towards the powerful stranger, who looked at them curiously through hypnotic eyes, with rings upon rings inside them.

Whatever his freaky eyes were, they were definitely some sort of doujutsu. "Who are you people?" the stranger asked them. He was tall, a few inches short of seven feet, around six feet, six inches or so with a spiky mane of black hair, spiked around him like an even crown. He was dressed in simple garments, a black hakama, and black getas.

"We are from Konoha. The Godaime Hokage sent us here to train for some time." Kakashi spoke, sliding into the leadership role with little difficulty.

"Why are you training so hard?" the stranger asked.

"There's a group, a faction of some sort who want to collect all nine bijuu and use them to start a world wide war. We are training as hard as we can to prevent that from happening." Kakashi replied, and even Naruto trembled at the man's sheer power.

It was quite frightening. It felt as if he were paralyzed, completely rooted to the stop and the man hadn't even used killer intent.

"The Akatsuki? Yes, I know of that organization." The stranger replied. "I grant you access to this place, the chamber of Time and Requirement. I after all, built it. As you know, a year in here is only an hour back in the parallel universe from which you came. I must depart now, I have matters to attend to myself." The stranger replied.

"Who are you?" Naruto dared to ask.

The man swiveled his eyes to Naruto, and his mesmerizing gaze perturbed him. He smiled openly, canines bared. "You, my boy, will find out one way or another, it is not the last time you shall see me." The stranger boomed out, and suddenly there was a rushing sound as the black haired stranger imploded upon himself and disappeared.

"Okay, who the fuck was that?" Yugito asked.

"I have no idea, nor do I ever want to find out." Yamato replied, visibly shaken.

Everyone agreed to that.

After that odd exchange, they headed into the mansion. Inside the mansion was crazy, nothing could prepare Naruto for what was inside there. There appeared to be a room for everything, a room stacked with ninja weaponry, a kitchen, beds, pools, it seemed as if each room had something for one of the shinobi there.

It even had a library full of Icha Icha and other hentai novels, leaving Kakashi passed out from a nosebleed, minutes after appearing. Afterwards, Kakashi ordered them to eat and rest, because the next two years would be nothing but training.

The three genin and chuunin ran away, not having needed to be told twice. The all headed towards the kitchen and ate to the hearts desire. There was hot ramen and rice noodle soup for Sasuke and Naruto. There were steaks and an assortment of meats for Kiba and Yugito. After they ate, they all headed down to the warm pool after changing into a pair of shorts and hopping in, finding the water, quite delightful.

"Do you think you're going to die?" Kiba asked randomly as they swam in the water.

"Wow, great conversation starter skills Kiba. I can almost imagine you hitting on women with those legendary quips. 'Hey baby, you mind if I jizz on your back, because that ass is too pretty to ruin.'" Sasuke mocked the feral teen.

"Fuck you emolicious. I'm just saying, I'm scared for you guys and I'm not even going on the damn thing." Kiba admitted, giving Sasuke a hard glare.

"I'm scared too Kiba. I'm scared shitless, because we all know it's a setup, because I might see Uchiha Itachi again and have no idea what ground we stand on. I'm scared because even if I leave here a fifteen year old, we'll never know if it's enough to beat these guys. Or better yet I'm scared, because I have to tap into the Kyuubi's power, and God knows I don't want to be associated with the furry nut." Naruto replied evenly.

"I'm not scared, I can't afford to be." Yugito spoke, opening her mouth for the first time.

"Whatever, Yugi-chan, you're just as scared as all of us." Naruto replied, much to the kunoichi's irritation.

"Not really, Naru-kun." She cooed. "I've already killed plenty of people, strong people. It makes no difference to me." She bit off bitterly.

"So have I, well okay, I've only killed three people. But what I think you're too scared to admit is that you're frightened, for one main reason." Naruto shot back.

"Really, and why's that?" Yugito asked, a smug look on her face.

"Because in all we've done, we've always been the predator. We killed in self defense or even carrying out the mission for our village, but when have we been hunted down like animals. Rather than the predator, you've become the prey, and you don't like that Yugito-chan, do you?" Naruto baited.

She was quiet for a moment. "Stop calling me that… Yeah, okay, I'm a little nervous. But why are you scared? You've been hunted like some wild animal all your life, Naruto-kun." She shot back, and cringed seeing the wounded look in his eyes.

The room was awfully quiet.

Awkward…

"You're right, I have. Back then it was drunk civilians and some run of the mill ninja. This time, we're taking on the most powerful shinobi in the Great Nations, so I'm sorry if it fucking weirds me out." Naruto spat out, a snarl rising to his whiskered face.

Rather than continue the argument, the thirteen year old stood, and walked out of the pool, not stopping to look back.

"Great, now you pissed him off." Sasuke spoke, clearly annoyed.

"Fuck him." Yugito replied to Sasuke bitterly.

"I wish you would, maybe he'd stop being so angsty." Kiba replied.

The glare he received was so not worth that comment.

Yugito left minutes later to go shower. Kiba was dozing off, not really paying Sasuke any attention, leaving the black haired boy alone in his thoughts.

Uchiha Itachi… What have you been up to these last few years nii-san? Have you been training as hard as I am, or are you merely waiting for me to be strong, so you can die at my hands like you so hard tried pushing me into doing?

"_**Why did you kill them… mother…father…" a broken seven year old Uchiha demanded, crouch over the body of his parents. "Why did you kill them all, answer me nii-san?" Sasuke demanded.**_

"_**To test the limits of my abilities." Itachi replied dispassionately.**_

"_**That's it…" Sasuke demanded, standing up to his feet. "You killed them to test your capabilities?" He asked angrily, balling up his tiny hands.**_

_**Itachi gave no reply.**_

_**Merely gazed at Sasuke with his guilty, blood red Mangekyou Sharingan. The three sided pinwheel hypnotizing Sasuke even at that moment.**_

"_**You monster!" Sasuke cried out, charging at his brother with all the energy he could muster, before throwing a punch.**_

_**It was inconsequential, because before Sasuke could hit his brother, his brother's fist was buried deeply in his gut, knocking the air out of him cleanly. Sasuke dropped to the floor face first, his glazed eyes falling onto the body of his dead parents, their spilt blood running across the floor like vintage wine, the metallic smell of the departure nearly enough to send Sasuke into a gore induced vomit.**_

_**The hypnotizing pinwheels claimed him, and Sasuke screamed staring into those blood filled eyes.**_

_Why couldn't you have told me the truth? Even now, having been told the truth by Naruto-kun, I still hate you. Part of me still wants you to suffer, part of me wants you dead Itachi!!! Yet part of me wants to save you, from that lonely existence you had to live, from that miserable excuse of an existence the village handed to you._

_What do I do, Itachi?_

_Do I kill you, and redeem the blood of our elders that stain Konoha to this day? Or do I save you for saving Naruto on that sad day?_

_Do you deserve to live after all you've done?_

_But better yet…_

_Do you deserve to die?_

III

Naruto lay in his bed, fuming. That fucking cunt…

God she pissed him off. Throwing all that shit in his face, about him being hunted down. There was a downside to her having seen his memories and that connection. A connection he still didn't truly understand. Why had he attempted to perform that Tsukyoumi on her that day?

It troubled him deeply. Mainly because he avoided having bonds with people, since people tend to let you down more often than not. He only really cared about the Sandaime, Kakashi, Sasuke, and now Kiba. That's it, he had associates, and people he didn't want to die, and lastly there were the people he either hated, or just didn't care if they lived or die.

But this connection between the two jinchiruuki, it wasn't forcing him to care for her. But it was making him understand her, empathize with her.

And that's what he didn't want. He didn't want to feel sorry for her, it was bad enough that he was excitingly attracted to her, the empathy only enhancing and enforcing what he already felt.

But what really sucked above all that, was that she could read him like an open book, and then use it against him. He liked being mysterious, a total enigma to the population, but she understood him in ways that even his best friend Sasuke couldn't, and then used that knowledge to hurt him, even if it was unintentional.

He felt her soothing presence nearby, she must be standing right outside his door as he contemplated her. "Come in, Yugito." He ordered, not bothering with honorifics or politeness.

She swayed into the room, before meeting his eyes. "I'm sorry." She began, walking over to his bed, before sitting at the edge of him, giving him a sorrowful look.

"I don't give a shit either way." Naruto shot back, daring her to hurt him again.

"You know you make apologizing really hard, Naruto-kun." She whispered.

"This is my care face, notice how it looks exactly like my I don't care face. You know why that is Yugito?"

"Shut up…" she growled out, baring her fangs at him. He did for the moment. "I've never really had attachments. I never knew my mother, or my father…all I know is battle. Kinda like you…

"Now I'm stuck here in a foreign land, about to fight my own people. I'm about to take on some really powerful fucking criminals who want what I have sealed away. I'm scared shitless, and above all that, I have some inane desire to make you feel better. To let you know that life does suck, but that it gets better with time. I want to be your friend. I want you period." Yugito confessed.

Naruto's eyes got wide with her admission.

"And it's not because of the connection now. Would I have noticed you if we weren't connected. Probably not. But after spending time with you and seeing you in a different light, I came to really care about you. I'm not going to tell you I love you, because I don't… but I do feel something." Yugito whispered, before climbing over to him.

Naruto gave her a wide eyed stare, as she slid on top of him, her bare legs smooth to the touch as she leaned in. Naruto wanted her so bad, he could admit that… Could he chance it though, could he give in knowing full well that she could turn it against him later on?

Her arousal tickled his nose, and he knew no more. Grabbing her by the back of her neck, he pulled her flush against him, and their lips pressed against each other. It felt like a spark of electricity and excitement was lit inside of them, as they fell back on the bed, with her on top of him. Her lips were moist, and soft to the touch, her tongue was invasive, not giving him time to react as it darted inside his mouth, tasting him, taking him.

He was so far gone…

He melted beneath her lips, quivering as if it were he that had the vagina.

He didn't love her.

But oh God did he want her.

His hands reached out, seeking for the bare flesh she revealed to him in all her glory. His soft hands found her bare arms, stroking them softly with each digit. She cooed and moaned in his mouth, the scent of her arousal only stronger, blinding him, the connection between them only becoming stronger. "God I needed this." Naruto admitted blindly.

She moaned a reply, and he pulled away from her lips to taste her flesh, his lips finding the crook of her neck, his lips and tongue suckling. His teeth nipped at the hollow of her throat and Yugito convulsed uncontrollably in her pleasure, then agony as her nails grew into curved hooks, her animalistic side taking over.

"I want you so bad Yugito." Naruto confessed, his tongue lapping at her throat, before his lips claimed hers once again. His fingers left her arms and found her bare legs, soothing her as his digits skimmed over the back of her thighs.

The world that both of them knew had changed…

…and it would never, ever be the same again.

IV

Naruto woke up first the next morning, to find that someone else was in his bed, naked, very naked and pressed up against him. This was a first anyway, he had thought it had been all a dream, but it was real, very real. He lowered his gaze to the naked kunoichi next to him, the oh so beautiful Nii Yugito. Kissing her forehead lightly, he rose out of bed and dressed himself quickly in the dark blue pants he had worn, and a black tank top, with black shinobi sandals.

He opted not to wear his hitai-ate, and then strode over to the bed to wake up the girl who had complicated his entire life with one kiss. "Wake up…" he begged, stroking her bare stomach softly.

She still didn't stir, though Naruto felt a rise in his hormones. Trying to get a rise out of the kunoichi and wake her up as well, Naruto lowered his head down and slid his tongue into her navel, sliding his tongue around the area before dipping the appendage in and clasping his lips around the edge.

Her hands suddenly shot up and clasped his hair.

"You bastard. You don't play fair do you?" Yugito asked, arching her back in ecstasy.

"No, but neither do you. You were awake for quite some time now." Naruto revealed, rolling his eyes at her.

"So you knew?" Yugito asked smiling.

"Kinda…" Naruto admitted.

"I was watching you change, very nice…" Yugito replied, forcing the younger genin to blush.

"Shut up." Naruto growled out.

"Make me…" she replied, beckoning him to the bed.

He climbed in with her, and pressed his lips to hers. "We gotta go, the others will suspect something." Naruto begged, but she had already begun sucking on his lower lip, her nails raking across his chest.

"Fine." She said with a pout, before shooing him out of the room. Naruto, ready to train headed down to the kitchen and grabbed a quick bite to eat. He looked outside and saw Kiba and Sasuke were meditating, presumably waiting for Kakashi and Yamato to show up. Running out to his close friends and comrades, the blonde teen sat down and pretended to meditate, as if he'd been there the whole time.

Yugito strode out fifteen minutes later, and their sensei's still hadn't shown up. An hour passed and nothing had happened. Irritated and annoyed, Naruto left the circle and walked away for a few minutes. He grabbed the scroll Jiraiya had given him and set it on the floor. Biting his thumb and swiping it across the parchment and burst open and revealed what's underneath.

_Naruto-kun,_

_Please don't hate me. I know I'm a bastard for asking for that, considering I just sealed a huge furry bastard called the Kyuubi into a newborn baby, who was you. I'm sorry for that, but I felt like I had no choice. There was no other way for Konoha to defeat such a malevolent being like the Kyuubi so I passed the burden onto you, my son. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest choice, or even the one that benefits you the best, but Konoha is our home, and I love it more than most things in the world besides you and Kushina-chan. Don't ever doubt I loved you son, I truly did, despite my flaws, I love you. But I had to make a choice, one that others couldn't make because that's what being Hokage is about. Hopefully, the village treats you for the hero you are, and not the demon you carry. If not, don't let them get to you. You are not the Kyuubi, you're what stops it from taking any more lives. Live your life, hopefully you become a Hokage like your old man, but if not I understand. Like I said, don't ever doubt I loved you son._

Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage, leading Shinobi of Konohagakure

After the letter, they were numerous seals written across the scroll. Naruto swiped his bloody thumb across another one, and after a burst of light, there was two tri pronged kunai with some paper seal wrapped around the handle.

_This must be the Hiraishin kunai…Naruto thought._

Sealing the kunai back into the scroll with a bit of chakra, he swiped his bloody thumb across the next seal. Another scroll popped up from it and immediately he recognized the handwriting as his father's. It was general instructions on how to master the Rasengan. Naruto had gotten to the third stage and could form a perfect Rasengan, but it took him both hands to do it.

Standing back, he held out his right arm and began powering up his chakra. Immediately blue chakra began to swirl around in the center of his hand, forming a rough sphere of chakra. Using his left hand, he rotated the chakra inside the sphere, the swirling vortex of blue unstable when he stopped using his left, the Rasengan shimmered for a second before imploding, knocking Naruto back a couple of feet.

"Naruto!!!" Kakashi called out, shunshinning in front of the three shinobi meditating. Naruto immediately vanished in a swirl of leaves and appeared over there. "Good job, Naruto, you got the idea of the first exercise." Kakashi clapped the genin on the back, before ruffling his hair.

"What was the idea?" Kiba asked timidly, and Kakashi got his serious face on.

"You and Sasuke have been meditating for two hours waiting for us to appear. Why? Why did you not go train by yourselves? We are here to train and get stronger, not to waste time meditating. We will be here for two years, two long years trying to ready you wet behind the ears genin and chuunin to face off A-ranked and above shinobi. I want you to diet on exercises, I want you to train in your sleep, and I want you to shit out chakra!" Kakashi spat out snarling. "I want you to piss out jutsus, I want you to make love to torture, make out with pain, and Naruto and Yugito, I want you to have orgasms of youkai."

"Shit out chakra?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"Shut up, you get my point. We're not always going to be here for you. You have to learn how to get stronger by yourselves. Now let's begin!!!" Kakashi ordered.

Perhaps Naruto would never truly understand relationships… or perhaps Kiba would never become an S-ranked wind user, or perhaps Sasuke would never forgive Itachi after all…

Perhaps Yugito would never really care about Naruto without the connection that was formed by a misused Tsukyoumi.

But all they knew was that their world had changed, and that they would leave this stronger, better shinobi.

Perhaps they stood a chance after all…

A/N: Yes, I know, I ended up taking this in a whole new direction that I hadn't even planned for. Yes, the Chamber of Time and Requirement does kinda sound like Hyperbolic Time Chamber off of DBZ. Who the hell was that stranger inside the chamber? Lots of questions I imagine… And no Naruto and Yugito did not have sex, if they had, I would have written it, or implied it implicitly. This is not canon, this is the last warning you'll get, things will happen that will make this seem like a crossover of sorts but it's not. There won't be Super Saiyajins running around in this fic, or Naruto flying around using ki…

But there will be new techniques that might seem a bit DBZish… not too many at all though.

What is the 'Secret Technique'?

What will Naruto's nature manipulation Rasengan be, since he's lightning based?

Will he learn how to handle the Kyuubi's chakra?

Stay tuned till next time.

Poll: If Kakashi would hook up with any canon based character, who would it be? Taking serious suggestions for this story.

P.S. By the way, I really did try putting of the Naru/Yugi romance aspect of it, but for some reason I couldn't stray away from it. In pitting the characters against each other constantly from the get go, it only served as fuel to ignite their heated romance at this point. But don't shy away, it's not going to get fluffy like some Naru/Hina fics I've seen. If you know my darker Naruto, you'll realize how he'll probably react to her in the upcoming chapters.

Poll #2: Would you like to see a time skip at this point or an in depth detailed account of their training for two years, or a little bit of both?


	12. Red Dawn in the Bloody Sands

Requiem of a Demon

Chapter Twelve

Red Dawn in the Bloody Sands

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. Between working for the Navy and deployments, a hot girlfriend, illegal street racing, going to court for said street racing, spending two weeks vacation in Spain with my family, and everything else, I really have had no time for writing. So hopefully, the quality of this chapter makes up for the delay in writing.

I

"So what's next between us?" Yugito asked calmly, her dark eyes boring into Uzumaki Naruto's. Naruto gritted his teeth, he had been blatantly avoiding that question since last night. They had shared something marvelous, something no other women would ever have. Though they didn't sleep with each other, the lust filled kisses, the intense passion and desire, would haunt Naruto's memories. The echoes of her moans, the soft timbre of her squeals as he pleasured her with his finger tips.

It couldn't be forgotten, even though he kind of regretted it right now. "Right now, I really can't promise anything." Naruto replied, avoiding her scathing gaze.

"Why is that? After what we shared, and you don't anything to do with me now… why Naruto?" Yugito demanded, and tears sprung to her eyes unwillingly.

His throat clenched up, and he swallowed the sob that threatened to come out. He clenched up his eyes in frustration, as tears threatened to come out. "You just don't get it…" He gritted out, his teeth bared.

"Tell me, just what don't I get?" Yugito asked, annoyed. He really was starting to get on her nerves with his bi-polar act.

"We might all die… all of us. We've been training, but what if it's not enough. What if we die?" Naruto spat out, his whiskers darkening on his cheeks.

"Then we die…" Yugito replied hastily.

"That's the point. What if I, let you in, fall in love with you… and then you die? I've been suffering from loneliness most of my life, and I only truly care about a few. I don't want to lose any of them, because losing them is the same as losing myself. I'm only alive and here because of them." Naruto replied.

"Maybe you're right, but then again, maybe you're just a coward. Stop bitching about the past, it sucked, but now you can change it. Fate is but what we make. I don't plan on dying to the Akatsuki, no matter how strong they are, even the strongest have their weaknesses. If you just wallow around in self pity and shut me out and what we could have, you will die to the Akatsuki. Savor your bonds, enjoy you're life, because as a shinobi, everyday you're tempting death." Yugito replied.

"Maybe I am scared. But I can't afford to lose anyone special to me, I can't let you get too close. And if you can't handle that right now, then we don't have anything more to talk about." Naruto bit off angrily.

Yugito furrowed her eyebrows and grabbed the shinobi as he turned to leave. Pulling him flush against her, she glared at him. "You don't get off that easy, Naruto. I'm scared too, and I need you to tell me it's going to be alright. If you don't…"

Naruto now understood better. She wasn't condemning him for being scared and wary of losing a loved one. She needed him to conform her, she needed him to tell everything was going to be okay because she was scared out of her wits as well. How could he have been so oblivious?

"I'm sorry Yugito-chan." He stammered out, before clumsily claiming her lips with his.

"Don't leave me, I need you now more than ever." Yugito replied, wrapping her arms around his back, bruising his lips with her need.

"I don't know what's going to happen between us, I can't promise anything. But I'll try, even if I might lose you, I'll try." Naruto spoke, responding to her touches with fervor.

Suddenly it felt like he was being sucked into something vacuum like, his stomach churned and the world faded away and suddenly he was in front of the cage sealing away the Kyuubi no Yoko. "Don't you see I'm busy?" Naruto snapped waspishly at the bars.

"**Having fun, boy? Perhaps you are not as pathetic and angst-ridden as I thought."** The Kyuubi mused, laughing from behind the bars.

"I'm not baka. I'm going to do things my way now… and you're going to do something for me in return." Naruto replied, his lips curling into a smirk, accentuated by the whisker like birthmarks on his cheeks.

"**What makes you think I'm going to do anything for you, silly monkey?"** The Kyuubi shot back, his voice booming and echoing in the small mindscape.

"Because, you want me to continue this relationship with the vessel of the Nibi no Nekomata, right?" Naruto asked, the smirk still apparent.

The Kyuubi didn't return the smile. His eyes narrowed and glared at the thirteen year old. **"Right, make your point, you filthy flesh-bag. It is my desire for you to continue the mating process."**

"I need access to your chakra, all of it, without interruption, and without having to ask for it. If you want me to continue this little fling with Yugito-chan, you have to comply with my wishes. Failure to do so and I will kill my heart and leave her, if only to hurt you, teme." Naruto replied.

The Kyuubi's eyes burned bright, the flames of hell burning behind his irises. Without warning, the Nine Tailed demon leapt into the cage, rattling it. The Kyuubi roared in anger, his hot breath rolling over Naruto in waves. **"You filthy monkey… when I get out, I'm going to make you suffer. You will pay for your insubordination. Do you hear me!? You will pay!!!" **The Kyuubi bellowed.

Naruto didn't scare easily. Instead, his neon eyes melted into blood colored with a spinning, three sided pinwheel. "Mangekyou Sharingan." Naruto whispered as he focused chakra to his eyes. Glaring at the Kyuubi with more intensity than should be able to muster for a 13 year old, he spat out, "You will obey me Kyuubi. Whether you like it or not, I'm in charge, and until the day you do get out, you'll listen to me because it's in your best options to do so. If you happen to get out, I will lock you away where no one will find you, so until that day, shut the fuck up and do as I say." Naruto shot back, the pinwheels spinning simultaneously.

"**Fine Naruto, I will bestow my power to you for now... but when I do leave this place, you will pay, and your faux- Mangekyou Sharingan cannot change that."** Kyuubi murmured.

"What part of shutting up didn't you understand? I'm going now." Naruto replied, before disappearing from the cage.

He reappeared mentally in front of Yugito, who had a worried look on her face. "Are you okay? You kinda spaced out for a second." Yugito asked, kissing the blonde's forehead.

"I'm good, you ready to train?" Naruto asked, and the two blondes backed up, before launching at each other in another spar.

II

Icha Icha... Kakashi thought to his self, before giggling aloud. For days, he dreamed about reading the next Icha Icha book that came out the day he left his normal life to come here, to this white void called the Chamber of Time and Requirement.

He as a sensei couldn't be prouder of his students, of even Yugito herself. They had been here for three months so far and their improvements were ridiculous.

He smirked, though it was hidden by his mask. Kiba had mastered all of his known clan jutsus and his bond to Akamaru was a force to be reckoned with. While training solitary, he had training hard with Kakashi in kinjutsu, after acquiring a katana, then mastered Kamaitachi no Jutsu, using wind chakra to devastate his opponents, using the katana as a medium. He had also mastered Futon: Renkudan and Futon: Daitoppa fairly easily, a lot easier than the others were having with nature manipulation. Lastly, he was developing a technique called Futon: Kami Oroshi, but it was nowhere near complete.

Sasuke on the other hand only mastered three jutsus so far. Despite his Uchiha blood running through his veins giving him preternatural ease with using Katon techniques, the sheer power Sasuke was putting into them had taken a bit to master. He had learned the Katon: Endan with ease as well as the Katon: Hoenka. Kakashi tried to teach him Karyuu Endan after accidently copying it from Sarutobi's arsenal, but Sasuke stumbled for a bit on that.

Though it was a good thing based on results. Sasuke's Karyuu Endan was easily an A-ranked jutsu, the flamethrower he spewed from his mouth burned a bluish white, and was so intense even Kakashi couldn't stand to be around Sasuke when he used it.

Naruto on the other hand hadn't focused on learning techniques, though his visual genjutsu was a lot better. Rather instead he focused on being able to use the Kyuubi's power. Prior to their sub-mission, Naruto never really used the Kyuubi's chakra other than for short spurts. Currently he could use up to two tail's worth of the Kyuubi's chakra, though it wasn't safe to stay in longer than five minutes in his two-tailed state.

At the one tailed mark, Naruto would be hunched over on all fours like an actual fox, surrounded by a burning cloak of red chakra. His whiskers darkened heavily and his hair turned into heavy tufts of blonde, spiking out more than ever. His speed and power increased heavily, and he didn't suffer too much from the use.

In his two tailed state though, Naruto's eyes were burning rubies with an unnatural black slit running down the middle of the iris. His whiskers darkened more and his power increased. The only problem with his two tailed mode is that Naruto would develop Kyuubi like instincts and after five minutes the chakra overwhelmed him and he couldn't differentiate between friend or foe.

Thank Kami for Yamato, Kakashi thought. Yamato simply was the only thing short of Jiraiya's suppressing seals that would cause the vile chakra to return to it's prison of flesh.

"Why am I not good at these lightning release jutsus?" Naruto demanded, looking very much like an impetuous thirteen year old.

Kakashi looked up from the smut that passed off for a book and gave Naruto a patented eye-smile. He knew Naruto thought it was creepy. "Simply put, you have to much chakra. While you have good control, the chakra is so dense that rsiton jutsus will be unavailable to you. Lightning is fast and powerful but it requires such subtle finess and control that even most Kumo shinobi don't truly masters it. So until you can completely control your chakra, perhaps it's best to continue training with the Rasengan to improve your chakra control as well as create new Raiton jutsu by mimicking the Chidori. Hopefully by the time we're done here, lightning manipulation will become second nature to you." Kakashi spoke gently.

"Is it possible to have more than one elemental nature?" Naruto asked quizzically.

"It's possible but most people are jounin and strong ones at that before attempting that. But don't even think about that until you've gotten lightning already mastered." Kakashi replied.

Naruto disappeared via shunshin and continued his training.

Kakashi smiled genuinely as he vanished from sight. Though he couldn't help but wonder how much stronger Naruto could hae been if he had been there from the start.

Then again maybe he would have been weaker and Sharinganless.

Kakashi was a man who had lost alot. His best friend Obito, his first love Rin, his sensei Minato, his father Sakumo, and his mother who he never knew. One thing he gained out of all those losses was that it wasn't good to dwell on the past or the what if's, but rather strive for a better future.

III

Even though Naruto had mastered the Rasengan, elemental compisition of lightning, a ton of lightning jutsus(some of his own creation) he still couldn't combine the Rasengan with lightning chakra. He had even finished mastering wind chakra, much to Kakashi and Kiba's suprise. His mastery of wind was second to Kiba after a full year had passed in the Chamber of Time and Requirement. Using Kage Bunshin he cut the training short to one full month, developing an S-ranked techinque called the Fuuton: Rasengan and the SS-ranked Fuuton: RasenShuriken.

But yet he couldn't manage to do that with the lightning chakra.

Worst yet was that he couldn't even use his SS-ranked technique due to the damage it did to his chakra system. Wind chakra in his Rasengan was apparently a double-edged sword. Imbuing his elemental chakra with his father's techique wad hard enough but with thousand of wind chakra needles being spiraled so unstably, the wind chakra would also tear into his skin, past the superficial tissue and into his tentetsu, damaging them.

The only way he could bypass that effect would be to throw the spiraling shuriken before the wind chakra could do any damage. But each time he tried it dispersed after capsizing.

"What's wrong dobe?" Sasuke appeared, a small smile on his face. "Is it Yugito?" Sasuke added.

Naruto frownned at the raven haired Uchiha. "No, she's perfect..." Naruto denied sullenly.

"She's not giving it up or something. You're all strung up like you've been blue balled." Sasuke shot back.

Naruto frowned at his best friend. Both fourteen year old's were virgins but Sasuke began reading Kakashi's Icha Icha and a whole new perverted side began developing that only Naruto had seen.

Sasuke claiming to be taking a shit when really masterbating was one of the more embarassing antics Naruto had accidently seen.

"At least I actually have a girl, uke." Naruto teased belligerently, grinning from ear to ear.

"You got lucky. You connived her into liking you with that jinchiruuki connection of yours." Sasuke shot back.

Naruto laughed, a sound reminiscent of a younger him. "I'm frustrated by this fucking lightning manipulation into the Rasengan. It's been a year and still no luck." Naruto answered truthfully.

"Tell me about it, maybe I can help." Sasuke offered.

"I can shape the lightning and the Rasengan, but not at the same time. It's like trying to look left and right at the same time." Naruto replied.

"You're so dense. I cant't believe you have'nt figured it out." Sasuke replied after he pondered it for a few seconds.

"You tell me then Uchiha genius." Naruto replied back sarcastically.

"Let's have a trade of sorts. If this works you have to teach me the Chidori and help me work on raiton jutsus. If it don't neither of us gains anything." Sasuke offered.

Naruto pondered it for a second. "Fine, but only because you'd end up copying them anyway." Naruto replied.

"Kage Bunshin." Sasuke spoke dramatically after a few seconds.

"Huh? I've been using Kage Bunshins to train and it still hasn't worked." Naruto replied.

"No, listen, you described it as looking left and right at the same time, right? What if you used a Kage Bunshin to help you form the lightning chakra while you…"

"That could work!" Naruto interrupted him emphatically. Forming a half seal, he willfully summoned a kage bunshin into existence silently.

"Damn you're getting better with the bunshin." Sasuke commented.

"That isn't nothing, wait till I get the quirks done on my Konoha Rai Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto spoke. The summoned clone looked at the original.

"What do you need oyabun?" the clone spoke.

"I need you to help me by adding lightning chakra to my Rasengan." Naruto spoke. Holding his arm outstretched, hand open, he began summoning chakra focusing on an invisible single point in the center of his hand, watching with glee as a swirl of blue began to take the shape of a sphere.

The chakra continued to swirl unstably, forming a vortex solely held back by a sphere of chakra. "Now!" Naruto commanded.

The clone leapt into action and began to summon lightning chakra to his hands as he held it over the Rasengan in the original's hands. There was a screeching sound and the lightning chakra made the Rasengan hot, mini lightning storms inside the sphere of chakra, before a ring of chakra surrounded the sphere like the rings of Saturn.

The clone backed off upon the attack's completion, but not far enough as Naruto decided to test the attack on his own clone. Rushing forward, their was a sickening screech, sounding like a thousand dying birds, the ring surrounding the Rasengan spinning wildly, shocking Naruto himself.

There was a feeling of being sucked into a vacuum, similar to his Chidori in Nami and suddenly he rammed the Raiton: Rasengan into his clone, grinding it into his as the sphere exploded uncontrollably into a wave of lightning chakra that blew out of the clone's back before it exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"Good thing I gave him extra chakra." Naruto duly noted. Sasuke looked at his best friend in shock, that last attack had easily been a high A-ranked, borderline S-ranked technique. The Raiton: Rasengan had a ring of lightning chakra surrounding the technique to deter any incoming opponent's attempt to disrupt it, before the sphere of chakra connected, grinding and electrocuting the opponent. Finally, the sphere imploded, blowing a hole through the target, releasing lightning chakra on the way out.

All in all, it was an awesome technique with room for improvement.

"That's a pretty devastating technique." Sasuke complimented.

"But not enough." Naruto replied, summoning more clones.

The screeching sound of the Raiton: Rasengan continued for another hour, Naruto refusing to stop training.

IV

Yugito looked at her boyfriend from her peripherals, he inspired her by his relentless training. She liked that he refused to give up, like right now he was trying to master the last jutsu he had to master. She didn't even know what it was, he refused to let anyone see it until it was perfect, but she did catch him drawing seals for the last couple months, as he practiced his fuuinjutsu.

Not that Yugito slacked off and stared at Naruto. Without the youkai, she was the strongest in the whole group as long as Sasuke and Kakashi didn't use the Sharingan. That was the only edge those two had, but the Sharingan wasn't enough to save Naruto, she beat him constantly in spars, though it was always close battles.

Even Kiba had surprised her with his sheer power, though he was about as strong as Naruto, he didn't have the advantage of Naruto's youkai or vast arsenal of highly destructive jutsus, or whatever fuuinjutsu Naruto was working on.

Kiba was easily low jounin level as well as Naruto. Sasuke, Yamato and Yugito were elite jounin level, while Kakashi was borderline Kage level.

Both Naruto and Yugito in their two-tailed states were easily Sannin-level, and Naruto in his four-tailed state was Kage level, if not beyond. Their training was nearly complete, they had actually stuck around for two and half years to train at Naruto's request so he could complete something he was working on.

Several days passed and finally Naruto walked up to the group at their make-shift quarters. They had stopped training, and were merely waiting for Naruto to finish. "I'm done." He exclaimed, completely out of breath, and sweaty.

"What were you working on for the last year?" Kakashi asked the fifteen year old.

"Tsk... a ninja never reveals his secrets unless necessary." Naruto quoted.

Kakashi gave him a creepy eye-smile. "Roger, are you ready to head back Naruto?" the twenty nine year old jounin asked.

"Yeah, let me shower up and get changed, I don't wanna go back to Konoha all smelly." Naruto replied. Heading over to the baths, he looked over his shoulder and looked at his girlfriend, "You coming?"

Yugito smiled, before running to catch up to Kyuubi's vessel.

V

Jiraiya smiled, already missing his godson. He hated the fact that he was Hokage and didn't get to spend time with him, because he really did want to make up for the last few years that he wasn't here. There was no true excuse he could offer for his absence, but he hoped to make a better future.

A world full of peace, where there was no hate or suffering...

Before he could even blink, the scroll that was laid out on the deck in front of him, leading to the Chamber of Time and Requirement was set ablaze, then exploded into smoke, and suddenly he was no longer alone in the room.

As soon as the smoke cleared, he looked at the people in front of him, some looked the same as they had when they left two seconds ago, but the genin that had left had returned grown men and women.

Kakashi and Tenzou were in the same jounin uniforms that they had left in, the standard black outfit with green jounin vest.

Kiba though, had on loose, black pants, with the ends bloused with bandages and standard black shinobi sandals. He had on a chain mail shirt, with a black collared jacket covering it up. A long katana was in its scabbard, with the strap around his chest. The small puppy was no more either, instead there was a horse sized dog in its place. Seeing the Hokage's eyes lingering over his frame, Kiba saluted. "Inuzuka Kiba returning for duty, Hokage-sama."

Jiraiya nodded.

Looking at Sasuke, the duck headed Uchiha looked vastly older, and held an aura of power surrounding him. He had on black pants, with a black gi shirt that had an extended V-neck to the middle of his chest. A blue sash was wrapped around his waist, with a kodachi in it's scabbard. The baggy pants were tapered with bandages and he had on black shinobi sandals as well, with his hitai-ate wrapped securely around his forehead.

Then there was Nii Yugito, who was a bombshell in her own right. If Jiraiya hadn't known she was just sixteen, he probably would have drooled all over himself and offered her a lot of money to get between her thighs. She was in a tight spandex body suit, with a gold ANBU style chest plate. Rather than sandals, she had golden leg warmers, with black combat boots.

Lastly was his godson, and Jiraiya couldn't stop looking at him in a non homo-ish manner. He looked more like his father than ever, his blond, spiky hair was wilder than ever, with no hitai-ate to hold it in place, was spiked out everywhere. He had tied the back end of his hair in a small ponytail, and his whiskers were less pronounced giving him an almost normal look. He had on black, baggy pants as well like his friends, tapered with bandages, tucked into his black sandals. But that's where the semblance ended, he had a black undershirt, with a black, high collared, short sleeved cloak. In blazing red kanji in the back was Oni no Konoha (Demon of Konoha).

"You look different Naruto." Jiraiya commented, his eyes wanted to tear up at the sight of him.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied dully.

Apparently some other things had changed about him as well... Jiraiya mused. "Kakashi, please debrief the mission, please."

Kakashi nodded, then bowed before speaking. "Hai, Hokage-sama. We trained in the Chamber for two and a half years. Upon entrance we ran into an intruder who claimed to have been the creator of the chamber, but he proved to be non hostile and departed thereafter. I myself am borderline Kage-level and extended my repertoire to fifteen hundred jutsus. Nii Yugito is easily an elite jounin, more than capable and loyal to Konoha, a taijutsu master, with a few high ranked genjutsus under her belt. Her ninjutsu repertoire is on par with jounins, though most are Raiton jutsus. In her two-tailed state, she can become a miniature Nibi, with Kage level chakra and power.

"Sasuke is an elite jounin level as well with jounin level chakra, kage level ninjutsu, and kage level genjutsu, and his doujutsu is unheard of, bar Uchiha Itachi. Taijutsu is low jounin level, but all in all, he should be able to hold his own against any jounin here in Konoha, except myself and Yugito in her two tailed state. He has mastered Katon and Raiton jutsus, as well as elemental recompisition for both. Kiba has mastered the wind element, learned almost all fuuton jutsus in Konoha's arsenal and invented some of his own. He is easily a low jounin level shinobi, but angers easily, so I'd give him just a chuunin promotion. Naruto as well should be held at chuunin."

Kiba and Naruto looked angered at that but kept there mouths shut. "I think they should remain chuunin until the completion of this Akatsuki mission, at least in Naruto's case. Naruto without the Kyuubi is easily a low jounin if not higher. He has mastered a few Raiton jutsus, as well as genjutsus and doujutsus. But he has mastered the Rasengan and can combine two elements separately with the attack. He has invented four elemental Rasengan jutsus, including two SS-ranked ones. At the end of the training he also mastered an unknown jutsu that he refuses to share with us." Kakashi spoke.

"Sounds like he should be a jounin Kakashi? Why make him wait?" Jiraiya asked.

"His mentality, Hokage-sama. We need to know the extent of damage the Kyuubi might have done to his psyche after you so wisely asked that he master the Kyuubi's chakra, it hurts to say, but it might have corroded the boy's mind." Kakashi shot back, a scowl hidden by his mask.

It was known between them that Kakashi did not agree with the Hokage in how he wanted Naruto tutored.

"Why do you say that?" Jiraiya asked.

"In his three tailed mode, Naruto can barely tell the difference between friend or foe, in four tailed mode, he cannot. Not to mention with so much youkai running through his system, we do not fully know what it has done to him." Kakashi offered.

Naruto visibly scowled.

"Do you agree with his decision, Naruto-kun?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes, I agree with Kakashi-niisan's decision, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied coldly, but his tone begged to differ.

"Okay, here are your mission specs, you have an hour and a half to depart to Sunagakure." Jiraiya began, pulling a scroll out and laying it in front of them.

"Yugito, you will be the official captain, with Sasuke as your second command. You are to arrive in Suna and debrief with the Kazekage, hopefully before the Akatsuki arrive. If the Akatsuki are already in the midst and fighting in Suna, you are not to openly fight them, but rather get as much info on their weaknesses before attempting a stealth assassination. If that fails, then let's hope your training was worthwhile." Jiraiya ordered calmly, hiding his worry for his blond godson.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. You are all free to leave, except Naruto." Jiraiya ordered and Naruto blanched, but managed to cover that up.

The other shinobi departed in a swirl of leaves via shunshin until it was just godfather and godson in the room. "Hokage-sama." Naruto spoke lowly, before kneeling on one knee in front of the older shinobi.

"Naruto, don't kneel in front of me, it's embarrassing." Jiraiya replied, pulling the younger shinobi to his feet. "Please, call me Jiraiya or even ero-sennin, anything but all that formal shit." Jiraiya demanded.

"Hai, Jiraiya-san." Naruto offered calmly.

"Nervous?" Jiraiya asked. The Fifth Fire Shadow of Konoha watched the emotions fleetingly flicker on the teen's face.

"Yes. But do not worry, the mission will be executed flawlessly." Naruto retorted.

"I don't doubt that if you're anything like your father." Jiraiya complimented.

Normally Naruto would have been angered and replied with an 'I'm not.', but instead opted to be polite. "Thank you." Naruto spoke emotionlessly.

"Just don't die, Naruto. Give this old man one last chance to get to know you." Jiraiya replied sadly. "Give me a chance to make it up to you, just don't die kid." Jiraiya said with a note of finality.

Naruto took that as his cue to leave, walking out, but not before looking over his shoulder one last time. "I promise."

VI

A silver haired spy stood in front of one of his masters. Pushing his glasses on his face more out of habit than necessity, he looked at the serpent Sannin with wary caution. "I have informed the Akatsuki of Jiraiya's intentions. Not even Itachi could battle the Sandaime and walk unscathed, even in his old age." Kabuto reported, noting the gleam in his shishou's eyes.

"Good job, Kabuto-kun. I can't believe the old monkey is going to fight again, all to gain one boy's forgiveness. Such foolishness, and to think that without you I would have never known and missed such a wonderful sight. Prepare to depart Kabuto, we will watch from the shadows, and hopefully at the end of this battle, Sarutobi will be dead and I'll have marked one of the Uchiha." Orochimaru spoke silkily.

"It is a pleasure to serve you, shishou." Kabuto replied softly, his adoration for the Sannin growing, despite his pledge to Akasuna no Sasori.

"I will have the Sharingan, and will not settle for less." Orochimaru responded, before letting out a creepy laugh.

It seemed as if it were just getting worse for the Konoha ninja.

VII

The courier pidgeon flew overhead, before a black tendril shot through his chest, ripping him from the skies, and sending it plummeting to the hard earth down below. The tiny scroll attached to it's leg was pulled free from it's fleshy prison, and opened up.

**Hidan & Kakuzu,**

**Change of plans, Konoha is sending re-enforcements for the jinchiruuki, as in the Sandaime Hokage and Sharingan no Kakashi, as well as other elite jounin. You two are to head to Sunagakure immediately and help your fellow Akatsuki members. Feel free to collect any bounties on any of the non-jinchiruuki combatants. God has spoken!**

**Pain**

"That will be a lot of money." A dark, eerie voice spoke, belonging to the greedy treasurer of the Akatsuki. His partner was in front of him, head bent low in prayer to his violent deity. After hearing his partner's voice for the first time in an hour, purple eyes opened, and the silver haired Jashinist looked at the treasurer.

"You interrupted my prayer to Jashin-sama to talk about money!?" Hidan replied angrily, his purple eyes alit with anger. "What have I told you about that you dirty heathen?"

"Shut up or I'll kill you." Kakuzu demanded, his eerie green eyes boring into Hidan's. "Pain has ordered us to head to Suna and back up Itachi and the others." Kakuzu continued.

"Fuck them." Hidan spat out. "If they can't handle a few weak Suna nin and two jinchiruuki, perhaps they shouldn't be in Akatsuki." Hidan replied, his fingers adoringly caressing the necklace of Jashin.

"Leader has ordered it so, perhaps I should tell him of your insubordination." Kakuzu offered silkily.

"You dirty motherfucker." Hidan snapped angrily, his purple irises bulging out of his sockets. "When the time comes, not even Pain will stop Jashin from reaping vengeance for his faithful servant, and on that day Kakuzu, we'll find out who's truly immortal."

Returning the glare he was currently receiving, he stood to his feet. "Jashin-sama will receive plenty of sacrifices. Let's go, Kakuzu." Hidan ordered, before storming off to placate himself, knowing he had the last word.

'I will kill him.' Hidan thought to himself.

VIII

"You have arrived, it took you long enough." The Sandaime Kazekage spoke to the arriving Konoha shinobi. They were out of breath, seeing as it had taken them a day and some change to make a three day trip. Rather than responding right away, they popped a soldier pill to replenish their strength. "Tired already, and this is the best that Hokage could send, perhaps Konoha is weak after all." The Kazekage continued smugly, and Yugito and Sasuke were tempted to kill him right there.

They stood in the Kazekage's elegant courtyard, a view of the sandy village illuminated by the harsh sun and wind.

"It appears to be quite the opposite, Kazekage-sama. After all, it was you who requested our help, appearing much weaker than Konoha in the process." Naruto replied mockingly as he kneeled on one knee.

"Watch you tongue boy, for my patience is fleeting as my mercy." The Kazekage snapped.

"I guess we have something in common then." Naruto responded. Though Yugito was the taichou of Team Seven, they all knew who truly was in charge, despite being the chuunin of the group.

"I just might kill you boy."

"Not if you're already dead, Kazekage-sama." Naruto replied, smiling as the Kazekage looked ready to attack him. "We have received full authority to drop the mission should you prove to be troublesome. We already started allying ourselves with other nations and if you don't be careful, you might outlive your usefulness, therefore no need for us to be allied to you." Naruto reported, his neon green eyes alight with mirth.

"But I already paid..." the Kazekage stuttered out.

"And we have your money here with us. If you choose to be a hassle, we'll return your money and leave you to fend off the Akatsuki alone. I am not here to play games or suck up to you, Kazekage-sama. I will not allow you to walk all over our team and do as you please. We are here to fight and fight only, nothing else. So unless you have anything useful to say, I suggest you get a servant to set up our quarters while we wait out the Akatsuki attack." Naruto continued.

The Kazekage's eyes burned in anger. "This is bullshit, Suna has always help defend Konoha since our alliance and you dare threaten us?" Sabaku no Uraameshi demanded.

"You have also attacked us and only after a sound defeat did you join us in an alliance. More to save face than admit defeat. We're not threatening anything, you are." Naruto informed him.

"Very well." The Kazekage conceded.

The Kazekage's kids stood off in the back, watching the group warily. The oldest, Temari if Naruto remembered was looking at him with something akin to adoration, but he brushed it off. The oldest son Kankurou looked at him with defiance and pride, as if Suna's pride was held on his shoulders. The last Gaara, vessel for the Ichibi no Shukaku, was a creepy little red head, who looked as if he wanted to devour Naruto.

"Mother wants your blood." Gaara informed him, his hand over his blood red tattoo on his forehead, stating 'love'. Looks like the boy was lacking a lot of that, but with a father like the Kazekage, it was easy to see why.

"Shut up gaki." Naruto replied, looking over at Yugito.

Yugito smiled at her boyfriend, wanting nothing more than to be in a peaceful Konoha, in his arms telling him how much she cared.

Neither had said the special three worded saying the whole time of their relationship. Their feelings were so muddled and confusing with their bonds and demonic interference that neither wanted to say it unless they knew they truly meant it.

"Temari, take them to their quarters." The Kazekage ordered and the blonde shinobi in a white kimono, beckoned their attention to follow her. She led them around the courtyard and up some stairs, into the Kazekage's palace. On the second to last floor was quarters reserved for guests.

"How many rooms did you want?" Temari asked, blushing as she looked at Naruto.

"One shall suffice, Temari-san." Naruto replied.

"It seems you have me at a disadvantage, what's your name, shinobi-san?" Temari asked.

"Oni no Konoha." Naruto replied waspishly.

"Demon of Konoha, let me guess, a jinchiruuki too?" she asked, and Naruto and Yugito visibly bristled. "What's wrong?" she asked, unsure of what she had done.

"We hate that term. The power of human sacrifice..." Naruto said snorting in disgust.

"I apologize Oni-san, I didn't mean to offend." Temari replied hastily, bowing low.

"It is not your fault, you don't know any better." Naruto spoke softly.

Before anymore could be said, there was a blare of trumpets. Seven trumpets sounded off one after another. Naruto looked at his team perplexed.

"We're under attack, the trumpets mean we're under attack." Temari spoke, her eyes hardening as she pulled out a battle fan and prepared to battle off the attackers.

"I guess it's time." Naruto spoke confidently looking at his team.

"Itachi." Sasuke whispered, before his eyes turned blood red.

IX

Three black commas spun vicariously in blood red eyes. Their trek to Sunagakure was over, Itachi mused, tossing his straw hat to the side and unbuttoning the top button to his black, high collared cloak with red clouds appearing ominously. His three partners in crime were behind him, well two of them anyway.

Deidara was in the clouds, aboard a clay bird looking for an opening to start an aerial attack.

Hoshigaki Kisame was smiling crookedly through shark like, razor teeth, holding his beloved Samehada in front of him, ready to shred the flesh of any opponent. The blue skinned member of the Akatsuki was creepy, though Itachi would never admit it beneath his callous, emotionless façade.

Lastly was Sasori, lingering behind them, poisoned tail arching in the air like a poised scorpion, under his puppet body, making him appear to be a short, fat man, with a scorpion tail of course. But it truly made his opponents underestimate his speed, resulting in their deaths, most of the time, unless he was taking on Itachi.

Itachi unleashed a fireball that broke through the village's front gate, sending splintering wood flying all over.

A platoon of guards came running down, and swiftly fell to a single, held kunai of Itachi's, as he sped up and slid in between the ranks, slicing throats, looking like an afterimage, blood spewing in the air.

Kisame smiled at the carnage, before he too swung his Samehada, shredding the flesh of everything it came across.

Sasori's poisoned tail whipped in and out of the remaining platoons, the poisoned shinobi falling. Sasori smiled underneath his wooden exterior, the sands beneath his feet bloody, reminding him of his name, Akasuna no Sasori.

Before Kisame could move an inch, there was a black blur, and suddenly a fist was rammed into his stomach. "Don't move a fuckin' inch." A blonde, powerful shinobi stood in front of them, and for a second, they all thought it was the Yondaime Hokage reincarnated.

Sasuke and Yugito appeared behind him, both of them with their kodaichi's drawn.

"You look older, foolish little brother." Itachi spoke cruelly, appearing behind Sasuke, a kunai at his neck.

"You look stupider." Sasuke replied, before vanishing into a cloud of smoke, revealing that it had been a kage bunshin.

The three leaf nin squared off in front of their Akatsuki opponents. "One's missing." Naruto reported to Sasuke and Yugito.

"Let the Kazekage deal with it. We'll be busy here." Sasuke spoke, his Sharingan eyes boring into Itachi's.

Sasuke stood in front of Itachi, wanting to say so many things, unsure of how he'd react to his nii-san.

Naruto stood in front of Kisame, ready to bust out every sharp tooth the bastard had, ready to test his mettle with the fabled Akatsuki.

Yugito was impassive, arrogant in her stance, going through a set of hand seals as she readied herself to kill the one called Sasori.

The seven trumpets were blown again.

Before the doomed musicians exploded in a fiery blaze.

Akatsuki was in Sunagakure.

A/N: Sorry it took so long. Let me know what you think of this chapter, shorter than some of my other ones, I know, but I promise the next one will be longer.


	13. Red Tears, Black Flames

**Requiem of a Demon**

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Red Tears, Black Flames**

**I**

_**Four Years Ago**_

_Sasuke stood there, his onyx eyes catching sight of the blond idiot called Naruto. Currently the boy was being chased by a bunch of the Uchiha Military Police since the orange clad prankster had decided to graffiti the Uchiha district, spraying the word 'Douche bags' wherever he went._

_The Uchihas finally caught up to him, one of them being the green eyed Shishui, and they wrapped him up in metal ninja wire, holding the clown in place. _

_Looking at him in disdain, Sasuke resumed his shuriken practice. He wasn't particularly happy with Naruto either, Naruto had deliberately cut a wide hole in the back of all of Sasuke's shorts. But his day was getting better, he could see his big brother Itachi walking towards him in the distance, a peaceful look to his much to old face. Clad in a black, short sleeve shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back and grey pants, Itachi didn't look like the cruel prodigy many made him out to look._

_To Sasuke, it just looked like his nii-san, Itachi. "Itachi-nii!!!" Sasuke squealed out in happiness, running his still short legs to his brother._

_Itachi rarely smiled, but seeing his otouto always brought one to his lips. "Sasuke-kun." Itachi spoke, before poking his brother in the head as he arrived. He really couldn't help himself, he always did it when he saw him, it was his calling card. Sasuke pretended like it bugged him, but it didn't, it just meant that Itachi truly was human beneath the vacant look in his eyes._

"_Ow… You always poke me in the head when I see, big brother." Sasuke complained, a smile lighting his face. Pushing his brother's hand out of the way, he wrapped his arms around his waist and hugged him._

_Hugging his little brother, Itachi surveyed the area and the current commotion with the blonde known as Naruto. "What did he do now?" Itachi asked softly._

"_Oh him… He used graffiti to spray some stuff on the district. You know the elders didn't like that, so now he's about to get punished." Sasuke claimed with a gleeful tone._

"_You shouldn't laugh at other's sufferings, Sasuke. It makes you a villain, but joining in the suffering with those that suffer unselfishly, that's what makes you a good person." Itachi revealed, tousling Sasuke's spiky hair._

"_But that boy is always pulling pranks. Why should we sympathize with him?" Sasuke asked, arching an eyebrow at his brother._

"_He pulls pranks because as an orphan born on the tenth of October, the village has made him a scapegoat for something that is not his fault. No one gives him attention, love, the very things children thrive on in their childhood. Because of that neglect, he seeks attention, even the bad kind." Itachi spoke softly, a small frown on his face._

"_So they village blames him for being born on the day that the Kyuubi attacked. But it's not his fault." Sasuke said, outraged._

"_I know, it's not fair at all. People don't understand how special he truly is. What they can't understand, they fear, and what they fear, they hate. Such is the simple analogy of the human mind." Itachi responded._

_Walking up towards the MP's surrounding the boy, Itachi slid in easily and sliced the ninja wire with a kunai. "Let the boy go." Itachi commanded effortlessly, his voice sounding tired, even._

_Shishui didn't like the order one bit and stepped up to Itachi, getting in his face. "That's horseshit and you know it. He is on our property Itachi, pulling pranks, therefore he must be punished." Shishui barked at him._

"_Shut up." Itachi commanded once more, his Sharingan activating. "Perhaps if you treated the boy as a boy, rather than something that he isn't to blame for, for something he doesn't even know exists is what's truly criminal. You reap what you sow Uchihas, remember that." Itachi continued, sounding creepy as he was just a fourteen year old boy._

"_Is that a threat?" Shishui demanded, activating his own Sharingan. "He is just as we claim, the boy is a criminal, nothing more. He is not a boy!" Shishui raged on._

"_After all the misguided prejudice the village has shown him, don't you think he would have reacted by now? After the beatings, the near deaths, if he truly is what you claim, the village would have burned down a long time ago. You are the threat, not this boy. Your beliefs and hate only breed more hate. If the Uchihas were in charge as you so desperately try to be, the village would have been gone a long time ago." Itachi droned on, unwilling to speak any longer._

_Extending his hand out to the boy, he pulled the eight year old up, before sending him off, but not without some extra cash to keep him alive, if only for a bit longer._

**II**

_He hurt, all over. Perhaps it was the katanas and kunai that he had been run through. Maybe it was the kicks and punches, the fists and elbows that had given him a concussion. Maybe it was the kunai that was slashed across his eyes or the same kunai that had dug into his eyes, before gouging them out._

_To make it worse if such was possible, they pissed on him, taking turns in bathing the nine year old in urine. As he lay there, broken, bleeding, and sightless, he heard the sound of soft footsteps as they shimmied towards him, leafs crinkling and crunching softly in his wake._

"_Whose there?" Naruto called out fearfully, trying to force his body to stand up on its feet. Regrettably, it did not work._

"_Uchiha Itachi, ex-Anbu Captain." The soft, male voice called out._

_Anbu… just like the people who gouged his eyes out._

"_Are you here to hurt me too?" Naruto asked, trying to crawl backwards away from his possible attacker._

"_No, I'm not here to hurt you, Naruto-kun." Itachi exclaimed gently._

_Naruto felt himself being pulled to his feet, and a pair of arms wrapping around him in a brotherly embrace. He didn't understand. Who would be hugging him? He was the jailor of the Kyuubi no Kitsune after all. "Why not?" Naruto demanded angrily. Was he so pathetic looking right now that Itachi pitied him?He never had anyone's pity before, he sure as hell didn't need it now. He tried to push away from the person hugging him, but his body was too feeble, too weak to do anything. __"I'm the Kyuubi, I don't deserve to be loved or cared for. I'm not supposed to have dreams like everyone else. Please just kill me Itachi-san." Naruto begged frantically._

_Itachi was quiet for a second, as if pondering something. "Well if you're not going to kill me, at least give me a kunai and let me do it myself!" Naruto demanded hotly. Anger was his only reaction to cover up his sadness and his depression. It was instinctual, because he was robbed of his dreams to become a ninja and then Hokage. He was a blind, useless orphan that everyone hated and nothing could change that._

"_What's your dream?" Itachi asked, releasing him gently._

"_To be Hokage, that was my dream." Naruto said sadly, "Now all I want to do is protect myself, but I'm blind! How am I supposed to defeat what I can't see? I can't even become a shinobi now, that's all I wanted, to become a shinobi that made its village proud." Naruto said, sniveling once more as he hung his head down in defeat._

_There was a soft, rustling sound, as if Itachi was looking for something. "Naruto-kun, I'm going to give you your eyesight back, this might hurt a little." Itachi confessed. There was a dull ache where his eyes used to be as something was being pushed inside of them, the pressure and the ache so agonizing, Naruto almost couldn't bear it. Then some type of energy washed over his face, making him feel good, though forcing him to clench his eyes shut. "Can you see now?" Itachi asked._

_Naruto opened his eyes, expecting to see nothing but darkness as he had for the last few minutes, but instead he saw Itachi with clarity. He was in an ANBU outfit, chest plate and everything. Onyx eyes and black hair, with some sort of age lines running sideways from his eyes to his cheeks._

_He was the man who had saved him a year ago. He was Sasuke's brother._

_Itachi's eyes melted from black into blood red with a three sided pinwheel. 'What the heck is that?' Naruto mused to himself. "Thank you Itachi-niisan." He was about to hug his savior, when the ex-Anbu poked him in the forehead instead._

"_Tsukyoumi." Itachi whispered, and Naruto's world faded from sight, meshing into a pit of darkness. "Naruto, this is my world, the world of Tsukyoumi, where I can control everything from scenarios to time itself. I have given you part of my power, because I believe you can do some good with it. I need you to live, to survive. Before I go, I must do one last thing, I must tell you the truth, because that Naruto-kun, shall set you free." Itachi spoke, and Naruto for once, was attentive._

"_What's the truth?" Naruto asked inquisitively. _

"_You're not just the jailor for the Kyuubi, Naruto. You're the Yondaime Hokage's son, and no one knows that but the Sandaime and the High Shinobi Council."_

_Tears sprang to Naruto's new eyes. "I'm the Yondaime's son?" he stuttered, stupefied._

_Days passed within the Tsukyoumi as Itachi revealed things that no 9 year old should know._

"_Be free Naruto, be free."_

III

After the trumpets stopped, Naruto stood there, his black cloak billowing from the punishing winds as he surveyed the members of the Akatsuki standing in front of him. His neon green gaze caught sight of Akatsuki who looked surprised to see them, much older than they should have been, though he didn't show much emotion, Naruto found it surprisingly easy to read him right then and there.

Then there was Akasuna no Sasori, clad in his full puppet form with his metal scorpion's tail whipping about, most likely dripping with poison if any of the man's reputation was correct. Lastly was Hoshigaki Kisame, Samehada zanpatou in front of him, leering at the upcoming fight.

Kisame lived to fight and eventually die by the blade, those were the hardest opponents. The ones who didn't care if each fight was there was their last.

But he was the Akatsuki member Naruto was about to face off against.

"I see you have a scabbard, but no sword, jinchiruuki." Kisame called out to Naruto. His green eyes threatened to turn into red rubies with black slits, but Naruto repressed the anger as quickly as it came. With people like Akatsuki, anger would only lead to a fast defeat.

Then again, so would fighting them.

"There's a sword, but I found that it's pretty heavy to be lugging around all the time." Naruto replied, before biting his thumb, and pulling a scroll free from his chuunin vest, before wiping the bloody digit on the scroll and summoning his own zanpatou.

The Kubikiri Houcho to be exact. "That's Momochi Zabuza's blade." Kisame spoke outraged.

"Yes it is, and then I killed him and his apprentice single-handedly. This sword has never been used by me in actual battle so I thought it would be fitting to fight against you, because to me, the sword means something. It's a memoire to a lesson I learned against Zabuza and Haku." Naruto spoke.

"Let me guess, that fighting to protect a precious one makes you stronger." Kisame said, laughing.

"No, that sometimes you just got to kill a motherfucker." Naruto retorted, before disappearing in a blur and attacking Kisame head on, swinging the large blade in a decapitating slash.

'Such speed.' Kisame thought, before bringing up the Samehada as well to block the incoming slash.

The other four ninja took this as a cue to start dueling it out and departed for their own place to fight, wanting to give each other enough space due to each other's fighting styles.

Kisame blocked the Kubikiri, but not the foot that connected with his face, nearly spinning him around if it were not for his size and strength. Angered by the volatile jinchiruuki, Kisame ducked under the next swing of the blonde's zanpatou, before ramming his free hand into the boy's stomach.

Having lost his breath momentarily, he flew backwards and crashed into some sandy landscape, tearing down a statue of what he presumed to be one of the Kazekages. "Dammit that bastard has a hell of a punch." Naruto cursed out, as he stood back up to his feet wobbly, but not fast enough to avoid another one of Kisame's punches that rocked his body, sending him orbiting backwards again.

Blood sprayed into the air, spewing from Naruto's mouth, and in midair, Naruto activated his Sharingan in its perfected three tomoed form, and he caught sight of Kisame's next attack, a shredding slash with his Samehada. Spinning sideways in midair, Naruto landed on the sword, ignoring the drain on his chakra he suddenly felt, before kicking Kisame in the face, smiling in satisfaction as he heard a loud snap.

Back flipping off the sword, he landed on his feet before putting the zanpatou back inside its scroll. He didn't need it for now.

"As you can see, I'm still pretty much a novice when it comes to kenjutsu. But what I lack in that, I make up in everything else." Naruto claimed, his blood red Sharingan spinning around in his eyes.

"You have the Sharingan. Itachi didn't mention anything about that." Kisame spoke, looking at the jinchiruuki warily, as if seeing him in a new light.

"Let's continue." Naruto boasted, before going through a set of hand seals.

IV

Jiraiya clasped his hands together, he was nervous as hell for what he was about to do. His palms were sweaty, and he realized he'd never been this nervous since the time Tsunade caught him peaking at her…

…definitely worth it though.

"You can't do this, it's not time." A soft, aging voice croaked out.

"Sarutobi-sensei, you're not the Hokage anymore, remember?" Jiraiya replied.

"Once it's revealed, Naruto will have to have to worry about Iwa and Kumo. That's too much burden on such young shoulders." Sarutobi Hiruzen pleaded to his student.

"And the Kyuubi's not? You let that boy deal with that burden his whole life, never telling him why it was that he was getting beat up. And now that he's strong enough to fight off any bounty hunters that might come his way, now that we can change the misguided hate Konoha has had for him, you want to talk about his burdens? Please sensei, don't embarrass yourself acting senile." Jiraiya growled out.

Sarutobi had the sense to look abashed. "You must really hate me, Jiraiya-kun." Sarutobi said gently, betraying his student with a look of sadness.

"Despite the fact that my godson was nearly murdered six times and you didn't tell me, I don't hate you. Despite the fact that you forced me to be Hokage, I don't hate you. But now with this, you really are starting to piss me off. Don't you have a mission to be worrying about anyway?" Jiraiya said nonchalantly.

"I do. Jiraiya, before I go, I just wanted to let you know I always loved you as a son, even if I never showed it." Sarutobi said gently, before disappearing.

Jiraiya stood to his feet, before summoning Genma into the room. "Yes, Hokage-sama?" Genma asked.

"Is all of Konoha waiting for us?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes sir, we have all of Konoha ready for this speech you speak of." Genma replied tonelessly.

"Thank you for your assistance Genma. Prepare for departure." Jiraiya ordered.

Genma had no fucking idea what was going to happen, but he had a gnawing feeling in his gut that things would never be the same.

V

To say the Kazekage was afraid for his life would have been an understatement. He was terrified, and even though he was the leading shinobi in Kaze no Kuni, that didn't matter to him as he watched the S-ranked criminal Deidara launch another clay spider at some of the genin and chuunin that attempted to attack him, before blowing them up into smithereens.

"This is my art!" Deidara bellowed to the whole village, before blowing up the local orphanage in a fiery blaze. "This whole infrastructure is weak, Kazekage-sama, this is only my C-Two." Deidara announced.

Baki leapt in front of the Kazekage. "Uraameshi, please you have to do something. You're the Yondaime Kazekage." Baki snapped at him, and realization dawned on the Kazekage's face.

He was the Kazekage, meaning the village came before his own very life. He was the leader of the village, and if laying his life down served to protect their way of living, he had to do it. Tossing his regal robes to the side, revealing a black outfit, with a brown jounin vest underneath, the Kazekage pulled out some kunai before launching them at Deidara, still mounted on a huge, flying clay bird.

Deidara avoided the kunai easily, but it was just a distraction as the Kazekage ran through a set of hand seals and swiped a bloody thumb across a large scroll, summoning large puppets out of them.

"So you have an art similar to Sasori-sempai, yeah?" Deidara asked, before avoiding a large, bat like puppet.

"I am the Fourth Wind Shadow of Sunagakure, prepare to die, criminal." The Kazekage yelled, before launching his bat like puppet again at the clay using Iwa nuke nin.

"Too bad you're nowhere near as good as him." Deidara replied snarkily.

Angered by the comment, the Yondaime mounted the huge wooden bat, and sent himself flying at Deidara. Before he even got within five meters, Deidara spoke again, "My art is a bang."

The Yondaime Kazekage then noticed small spiders coming out of his puppet's mouth. His eyes widened, but before he could leap off, one of them grew in size and held him in place.

"Katsu!" Deidara called out, and the bat puppet and the Kazekage exploded, showering the sand in burnt wood and seared flesh and blood.

"No!" Baki yelled, about to leap towards the Akatsuki member that had killed his leader, when he saw the sand behind Deidara raise, like a giant wall. "Ryuusa Bakuryuu!" Gaara, the son of the now late Kazekage bellowed, and the giant waterfall of sand overwhelmed Deidara, plowing him straight to the earth before covering him in sand. There was no way out for him.

"Sabaku Taisou!" Gaara yelled, slamming his hands down on the earth, and Deidara screamed as thousands of pounds of pressure pressed down upon him eradicating him.

"Good job Gaara." Baki congratulated him, leaping down to see if the boy was alright after watching his father died.

Gaara ignored him and raised the sand back up and using his jinchiruuki powers, he brought Deidara's body back up to the surface. Deidara had an eerie smile on his face, before melting in white clay.

"You didn't think it'd be that easy did ya, yeah? It's time for my C-three, this is my art!"

VI

Sasuke looked at his brother for the first time in six years, well at least to him. In reality, only three and some change had passed. Itachi looked the same, though he was clad in his black, collared cloak with eerie red clouds on them. His hair seemed a little bit longer, and his eyes seemed weary.

"Otouto, how have you been? You seem older than you should be." Itachi drawled out, summoning chakra to his eyes, activating his fully mastered Sharingan.

"I am, I'm actually almost sixteen years ago, only two years younger than you. I might even be stronger than you were at that age." Sasuke boasted proudfully.

"Did you think I spent the last three years wasting them? No I did not, foolish little brother. I've become more efficient." Itachi replied.

"Efficient in killing I'm assuming. Doesn't get anymore efficient then slaughtering your own clan though, does it dear nii-san?" Sasuke asked, activating his Sharingan as well. There were three commas in each eye, though he had yet to fully master it.

Itachi's lips pursed in a tight lipped smile. "No, I'm afraid it doesn't." Itachi replied, bringing his hand up to take off his straw hat, and tossing it aside carelessly. After that, Itachi unbuttoned the top two buttons on the cloak, before going through a set of hand seals, but they were hidden by his cloak.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Itachi mouthed out as he sucked in air and blew out a large fireball at Sasuke. A huge ball of fire several meters in diameter blew past his lips and scorched the earth underneath them.

Rather than avoiding the jutsu, Sasuke took it head on. The flames singed his skin, burning flesh, leaving behind only a charred body in its place.

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the charred body that was Sasuke's.

Then Sasuke stood up, the raunchy smell of burnt flesh in the air. "Didn't you hear me? Silly genjutsus like that won't work on me, big brother. I too have eyes like yours, even your Tsukyoumi won't have much effect on me." Sasuke replied, releasing the genjutsu with just a flare of chakra.

"You don't think genjutsu is the only thing in my repertoire?" Itachi asked, smiling thinly.

"No, or else you wouldn't be able to kill of an entire clan of Uchihas. So bring it on, or else prepare to die today." Sasuke boasted, applying chakra to his feet, before bursting off and sprinting at Itachi.

"Such confidence otouto. The very same confidence that got our clan killed, yet here you are, about to end up just like them." Itachi replied.

"Why did you let me live?" Sasuke demanded, leaping in the air to kick his brother in the face, but Itachi ducked it deftly, and as Sasuke spun around, Itachi rammed his fist in his stomach, nearly making Sasuke bend over in pain.

"I told you to hate me, to hate me with all you had, knowing that I let you live on a whim, surviving in such a pitiful state. I told you to come see me when you had eyes like mine." Itachi replied cryptically.

"I have eyes like yours. I hate you, don't mistake that. But I'm not going to live a sad, pathetic life, completely hell bent on revenge because you told me to. I will kill my heart and kill you only if I must, because while I hate you Itachi, you are my brother and I still love you. So let's not waste this moment with your cryptic babble. Fight me with all you got brother, because I will do the same." Sasuke spoke, and swung his foot in a high arc aimed at Itachi's face.

Itachi was merely a blur as he swerved out of the way, effortlessly sliding behind Sasuke and held a kunai to his neck. "Too much talking." Itachi spoke cruelly, and before he could kill Sasuke, Sasuke's body dematerialized. "Genjutsu against me?" Itachi asked indignantly, before Sasuke's fist rammed into his jaw, bruising the pale flesh and sending him bowling over into the sands.

As he stood up, his blood red eyes saw the movement of two fuuma shuriken flying his way and he slid in between them, only to cry out in pain as ninja wire wrapped around him, stretching tight. The fuuma shuriken swung back and Sasuke grabbed them by the center circle opening, clutching them tightly, before criss-crossing them, making the two lengths of ninja wire almost one.

"How?" Itachi asked softly, he didn't think his brother would of pulled the Sharingan Soufuusha Sannotachi on him. His brother was more resourceful than he could have imagined. Despite his fully mastered Sharingan, he had seen the shuriken coming, but he hadn't seen the ninja wire attached to them. That was unheard of…

Itachi never got surprised in battle.

"Easy, the Uchiha's downfall was that we thought our eyes are so powerful, nothing could prevail over it. But all doujutsus have a weakness. Sunlight, and there's plenty of that here in Sunagakure. I aimed it perfectly, using the sunlight as a cover making the ninja wire invisible to you. You didn't think I'd have a contingency plan, but here I am. I trained specifically to beat you Itachi." Sasuke spoke, before going through a set of hand seals, and firing off a Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu at the Itachi through the ninja wire. The ends of the wire caught on fire and the jutsu shot through the wire and caught Itachi square on the chest, burning a hole through his black cloak, leaving a smoky trail in its wake.

Sasuke knew it wouldn't do more than minimal damage. It was a C-rank jutsu after all, but he wasn't going to start firing off his big guns yet.

He'd wait for Itachi to make his move.

Itachi stood back up to his feet, his cloak was burnt at his lower torso, and the flesh covering his solar plexus was singed, pink and hurting. Sasuke had improved after all. "Fine. Let's see what you got, Sasuke-kun." Itachi replied softly, a disdainful look in his eyes, blood red burning with contempt.

"No brother, let's see what you got." Sasuke smirked, trying his damndest not to underestimate the S-ranked criminal.

VII

Yugito knew she was going to win.

There were no if's, and's, or but's.

She had the clear advantage on the puppet user and it was beginning to show as Sasori was moving more sluggishly than usual. She had already seared off his black and red cloak with her hell fire, the bluish flames searing it instantly, hotter than a thousand suns. She could tell he was just a puppet, at least the physical body that was visible to her.

But that meant either he was controlling it with chakra strings, or the real Akasuna no Sasori, was hiding inside the large frame.

Puppet users were usually dangerous to fight.

Unless they were fighting her.

Puppet users were dangerous, because their puppets contained hidden compartments that were poisoned. Whether it be poisoned senbon, kunai, or even poison gas, good puppet users could kill opponents quickly and efficiently while maintaining their distance.

Unfortunately for them, Yugito was immune to all poisons known to man. Something in the Nibi's chakra, maybe it was just Bijuu chakra in general, but she was given an immunity of sorts.

That was the not so good part of being the jinchiruuki of the Nibi no Nekomata.

Then again, she was so kicking Sasori's ass, and not many could probably claim that, if any.

Sasori's puppet opened its mouth and launched another set of kunai at her. She leaped over them, whipping her katana out and deflecting any of the kunai that got close to her vitals. Two of the kunai pierced her soft flesh, and with her free hand she ripped them free, blood splattering in the air.

While she was immune to the fatal effects, it still had a numbing affect on her. Slowly but surely, it was affecting her reflexes, but the Nibi's chakra was already coursing through her body, negating its affects. But there was a time delay, a full minute from when the poison came in contact.

Flaring the Nibi's chakra, two tails exploded from her back and she got on all fours, surrounded by the bluish haze of the Nibi's chakra. It cloaked her, flames surrounding her whole body forcing her to take in her animalistic instincts and turn into a miniature version of the Nibi.

The sixteen year old Konoha jounin disappeared in a blur, avoiding anything that Sasori could launch at her, her tails extending and shooting themselves at Sasori without her even controlling them, before wrapping themselves around him and setting his puppet alight. The fire burned away and Sasori did not scream.

He did not feel.

Yugito launched the Akatsuki agent in the air, before firing a concentrated ball of blue flames at him.

She grunted and fell over in pain, the blue flames wavering, the demon's cloak nearly disappearing.

As she had grabbed him, he had stabbed through her with his poisoned scorpion tail, ripping its way through her abdominal walls and out of her back, flaying her intestines as she ripped him free.

There was a two foot hole in diameter where her ribs and kidneys use to be.

She had already been poisoned when she charged and took a chance.

This only made it worse.

She was about to die.

Her breathing became shallow, and then she stopped breathing.

Nii Yugito, sixteen year old jounin of Konoha was dead.

VIII

Naruto looked over, he had felt a stabbing pain through his gut. The pain wasn't physical, but it was enough to get him to stop assaulting Kisame for a second. There was a feeling of loss, and he immediately knew what it was. It was Yugito.

She had died.

Somehow he knew it. He would kill Sasori, but he had to kill Hoshigaki Kisame first.

Blood red eyes, hauntingly eerie with the three spinning commas morphed into a three sided pinwheel, a version of Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto spiked his chakra, flaring it willfully, his hair spiking up in the air, a malevolent look to the self proclaimed Oni no Konoha.

Kisame kicked him in the chest and backed away for a second. His kick had little effect and he didn't know whether to be excited or fearful. He never had faced off against the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan, he'd seen Itachi use it enough to be wary of it, but never had he been the target of those eyes.

Naruto looked at him in contempt, before launching himself at the ex Swordsman of the Mist. He was nearly invisible and Kisame couldn't track him, but there was a feeling of dread.

"Fuuton: Rasengan!" Naruto bellowed, and instantly a blue sphere formed in his hands with four spinning blades of wind. Slamming the Rasengan into Kisame, he could feel the wind chakra tear into his opponent, as blackish blood splattered his face and attire, flesh flying and suddenly Kisame was spun sideways, away from his devastating S-ranked technique.

In his pain, Kisame had let go of the Samehada zanpatou, and Naruto felt the urge to close his left eye.

Suddenly he grunted in pain as blood bled from his right Mangekyou eye and the Samehada sword caught on fire, black fire to be precise.

"Amaterasu." Naruto whispered.

He had done that impulsively, without even thinking about it.

What had Uchiha Itachi imprinted on him so long ago?

What had he foreseen?

Naruto shun shinned in front of Kisame, catching him before he fell and slammed his fist into his chest. Kisame's eyes widened in pain, and a loud grunt escaped his blue lips. But Kisame was not an S-ranked criminal for nothing, grabbing the blonde jinchiruuki by the front of his black cloak and flipping him over him, sending him crashing into the sand once more.

"You don't think I'd be as great as I am by just being a swordsman?" Kisame asked, and the wound Naruto's Rasengan had left slowly began to heal, muscles and sinewy tissue regrouping to regenerate.

"How did you do that?" Naruto asked, annoyed that Kisame healed the wound effortlessly.

"When I was just a child, my parents were slain by the Nidaime Mizukage, claiming they were traitors. Because of that, I grew up hated by everyone, spat on, and rejected. Then it all changed, the Sandaime Mizukage defeated the Sanbi no Kyodaigame but he didn't want to seal it at the time. However there was residue chakra in the area, left over from the battle, and all that chakra was collected and sealed within me. The Sandaime made me his personal pseudo-jinchiruuki and gave me the very same sword he used to defeat the bijuu, the Samehada. That is why I have large amounts of chakra, and why I appear this way.

"When you used that technique, I couldn't block it so instead I focused as much youkai charka as I could to heal the damage after the impact." Kisame finished, smiling in a menacing, shark-like manner.

"Then I'll make sure there's nothing left to regenerate." Naruto replied calmly.

"Feel free to try, boy." Kisame challenged, trying to get a rise out of the boy. The Akatsuki didn't have much information on the Kyuubi Jinchiruuki. They were expecting a blind, blonde kid who wasn't a shinobi, let alone one as powerful as he was, wielding the Sharingan.

That and the spy that they did have in Konoha as recon was getting molested by Orochimaru, Kisame mused.

After all, they couldn't bring too much attention to themselves.

Until now, at least.

Naruto de-activated his Mangekyou, still not used to the blinding pain that came with the Amaterasu. He didn't want to fuck up and use another half-assed Tsukyoumi. Hoshigaki Kisame was someone he didn't want to be bonded to. Seeing as his unintentional Amaterasu had burned the legendary Samehada sword to nothingness, he didn't want to use that as his advantage by bringing out his zanpatou once more.

Not because he had some sort of idiotic nobleness to him, because he didn't.

But because he wanted to beat Kisame that bad, he wanted to destroy him and send that as a message to the Akatsuki that Uzumaki Naruto was not one to be messed with. Kisame didn't leave him with too much time to think as he charged, surprisingly fast for a person as tall and as large as he was, before he attempted to ram a kunai through Naruto, which he pulled out of nowhere.

But unfortunately for him, Naruto's three tomoed Sharingan was still active, and masterfully reading right through him.

Before Kisame could even reach him, lightning began to gather in his hand, encompassing it completely, but unlike the Chidori. It did not sound like a thousand birds, it sounded like ten thousand birds screeching into untimely death. The lightning chakra was summoned to his hand with such quickness, and with four one-handed hand seals.

Kisame's eyes widened once more, and he tried to sidestep it, but Naruto was faster than he was, and rammed the A-ranked jutsu into Kisame's face. "Gorai Tsuppari." Naruto yelled, and his fist released the chakra upon contact. Kisame's face flared with light as miniscule flashes of lightning torn his face asunder. His right eyeball, above where the punch connected fried immediately, exploding out of Kisame's face.

Yellow, oozing pus dripped out of Kisame's right eye socket, and he didn't grunt this time.

He screamed.

The lightning tore through his muscles, melting them away like candle wax, searing his tongue until that too was charred into nothing.

Naruto screamed too.

His A-ranked Strong Thunder Thrust was a double edged sword. Like his Rasenshuriken, it kicked back some of the lightning chakra shards back to him, sending them running rampant through his nervous system, boiling his blood. Powerful as it was, he couldn't hold the charge for longer than three seconds upon impact, or else he could permanently damage himself as well.

Kisame fell to the ground, landing on his back with a heavy thud. Naruto knew he had to finish it soon, he had used numerous high powered jutsus and he couldn't continue to do so, unless he wanted to tap into the Kyuubi's power.

He couldn't afford that.

Fortunately, this last attack required some chakra, but none of his, at least not the second part.

"It's over Kisame. This last attack's going to kill you." Naruto boasted, forming the tiger hand seal with his hands.

"Fuck you!" Kisame yelled, "How are you this strong?"

Naruto smirked at the fallen swordsman. They should have never underestimated him. "Katon: Goryuuka no jutsu!" Naruto yelled, firing six dragon's head shaped fireballs into the sky. They were scorching hot, scorching the clouds, and setting the condition for what Naruto needed it to be.

He had picked up that last attack from Sasuke for teaching him the Chidori and the Rasengan, except Sasuke pretty much sucked at the latter.

When the Great Dragon Fire jutsu scorched the skies, moments later there was a rumble of thunder overhead.

Just how Naruto wanted it.

"What are you doing?" Kisame muttered, trying to get up to his feet but finding it hard to do so.

"You'll just have to wait, fish-face." Naruto replied. Naruto stood, hands outstretched to the skies, and calmed himself into what could be considered meditation. As the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky, blue beams of light began to surround the area and were sucked to Naruto's outstretched hands.

Kisame looked at him, with one bleary eye as he tried to summon his youkai to heal him. His flesh slowly began repairing, but it was taking longer than usual. While he was a powerhouse, maintaining this long of a fight with Naruto, and healing himself after the devastating Fuuton: Rasengan was taking its toll on him. More shards of blue light began to gather in Naruto's hands, giving him an eerie glow of blue.

Naruto felt… energized.

That was the only thing he could describe it as. Lightning chakra, natural lightning chakra was summoned to his hands for probably his most devastating technique.

Thunder roared and lightning crackled as a sphere formed into Naruto's outstretched hands, formed by the blue lightning chakra. The sphere was so large, it towered over Naruto, twelve meters tall and ten meters wide. Lightning chakra was sucked into the sphere, and a horrible screeching sound commenced as the sphere contained so much charka it was threatening to explode into a black hole, vacuuming and sucking the world into it.

Kisame looked at it fearfully, as he stood up and tried to defend himself. His left eye had yet to regenerate, and he knew if this hit him, he would be dead. There would be nothing left.

Suddenly a huge golden ring formed around the massive ball of destruction. "Check my SS-ranked technique Kisame. It'll be the last thing you'll see before you die." Naruto bragged.

The golden ring spun around the circumference of the sphere, and Naruto knew it was time to unleash his technique. "Raiton: Keiji no Rasengan!" Naruto bellowed.

But as unleashed his technique, a red and black scythe sliced into his side, biting into his abdomen, spraying blood all over the sands.

Naruto tried to turn around and look at his attacker.

But as he looked concentration and his life source of blood, his Keiji no Rasengan exploded in and the world went white as lightning tore his vision apart, and the world with it.

IX

Jiraiya looked at the thousands of people in front of him. Some were civilians, wondering just what Jiraiya had to say that was so important that all of Konoha had been forcibly summoned. Ninja, from genin to jounin where waiting for their fearless leader to confirm their greatest fear, that the Fourth Great Ninja War was about to commence.

"It saddens me to have to summon you all here. It really does. But alas, I as your Hokage have a duty to let you know on how our world will change as we know it. Some of you have heard rumors, some of you misunderstand certain things, and there are certain forces at work that don't want me to tell you what I have to say, but you must know, because the Will of Fire depends on it." Jiraiya spoke gravelly, staring at the crowd through heavy lidded eyes. He'd been up the last 34 hours, working and strategizing on what to say, what to do as village leader.

He thought of how he hated Sarutobi for making him the Godaime when there were other ninja more capable of the job.

"Tell us, Hokage-sama." Some of the crowd chanted.

"Tell me, what do you think of the boy that you know as Uzumaki Naruto?" Jiraiya boomed, his voice carrying loudly.

Some people blatantly booed and said evil things about him, mostly, everyone else was too afraid to voice their opinion to the Godaime.

"As of now, I lift the decree of silence on the boy's condition. I want all of you to know this, on October tenth, thirteen years ago, our hero, the Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyuubi no Kitsune within Uzumaki Naruto. He couldn't kill the Kitsune, so he was forced to sacrifice a child, an innocent child for the safety and sake of all of Konoha. Naruto exists to protect Konoha, it is he that stops the Kyuubi from coming out of his cage and destroying us.

"As the Yondaime Hokage died, his last wish was for Naruto to be viewed as the hero he was, because he was sacrificed to protect all of you. Yet that didn't stop you villagers from pissing on the Hokage's wishes. Did you think he was such a shoddy Hokage that he would mess up the sealing? Or did you simply hate Naruto because he was the only scapegoat available for you to hate? Something to hate because you lost your families to the real demon." Jiraiya spoke sadly, his eyes watering at the thought that he too, was to blame for Naruto's treatment.

The crowd was quiet, hanging on to the Hokage's words, though most people had conflicted thoughts and it was etched on his face. The older chuunin and jounin weren't conflicted though, they knew of Naruto, and already had their opinions on him. Some would still hate him, others were warming up to him as they heard of his prowess as a ninja.

"You abused him, mistreated him, overcharged him. He's just an innocent boy, who didn't even know why he was hated. Can you imagine that Konohagakure no Sato? Imagine being hated for something you don't even know of… Picture that life, that was Naruto. Have you ever wondered who his parents were?" Jiraiya asked, and someone jumped out of the shadows in an attempt to kill him before he could reveal the truth to the populace.

Jiraiya sidestepped his attacker, and ANBU black op agents grabbed the rogue nin before he could do anything.

"Can you imagine who the Yondaime would have asked for the sacrifice? I'll tell you who, himself. Loving the village like he did, he put you people before himself and sacrificed his only son for the sake of the village and sealed the Kyuubi within him. Uzumaki Naruto is the son of the late Yondaime Hokage, and you people abused him… War is on the rise, and you now have to live with the fact that the Yondaime's only son doesn't want to protect you, and I don't blame him. Live with that knowledge, which includes the shinobi, as well as me. War is coming people, prepare for it. And I don't know who you worship, but I'd suggest you pray to whatever deity that you do worship that Naruto defends Konohagakure when it does happen." Jiraiya finished before turning his back on the village he loved.

An outrage broke out.

The world as Konoha knew had been flipped upside down, and the leader of the village left, tormented in his own grief, too ashamed to let the village see the tears of pain slide down his cheeks.

It was a sad day in Konoha.

A/N: Just letting y'all know, Friday I'm going to Puerto Rico on vacation for two weeks so I rushed this chapter out so y'all wouldn't wait two months for it. Don't expect an update for another month or so. What do you think of this chapter, please let me know, because this chapter drained the life out of me. Another note, I'm thinking of either discontinuing The Road Less Taken or putting it up for adoption, because it has been four months, but we'll see. Do you think Naruto was too overpowered? Any suggestions on where to go from here… should Konoha still hate Naruto and not believe the truth, should Naruto care if he makes it back and doesn't die.

Ja Ne!

Oh yeah, before I forget.

Original Jutsus

Gorai Tsuppari- Strong Thunder Thrust- Basically the user charges up lightning chakra to their fist and punches their opponent, causing all the lightning chakra to tear into their face, tearing muscles and facial nervous system.

Raiton: Keiji no Rasengan( Lightning Release: Apocalyptic Rasengan)- Naruto sucks natural lightning chakra out of the sky, forming it into a large Rasengan similar to the Sage tech Rasengan in the manga, only it's completely full of lightning chakra. It's SS-ranked and the hyped up version of the Raiton: Rasengan only it's so devastating that it destroys everything half a mile in sight. Virtually it's an artificial star, once imploding there's a vacuum effect, replicating the effect of a black hole.


	14. Apocalypse Now

Requiem of a Demon

Chapter 14: Apocalypse Now

A/N: I'm really sorry for the wait. A bit shorter than the last couple chapters but I figured this was better than nothing. Lots of stuff going on in my life, and hopefully I can update soon. The reason this took so long to get out was because I had almost completed it, it was a glorious 20,000 worded chapter and I had also done Civil War chapter 2 when my laptop crashed and had to be restored, in the process losing over 50,000 words of work. I had a finished chapter for this, Civil War and The Road Less Taken. Technology sucks.

**I**

Pain was a glorious thing.

It was all he knew in his life, it was the one constant Naruto knew he could rely on, the one thing that would never change. The large scythe tore into his side, biting down and ripping through his flesh as if it were paper thin, blood spraying the air as his entrails threatened to come bursting out. Rubbery and slimy, the pink entrails poked out of the skin like an unwanted jack-in-the-box. Naruto screamed, his throat hoarse as he fell forward stumbling into the sand face first. Sand splashed into his face, digging its way into his eyes and mouth.

His eyes closed involuntarily, and he felt a gross wetness around him.

He assumed it was his own blood. Blood, the red, coppery life fluid pooled around his side where the scythe had ripped him apart and from his mouth. Before he could think any other rational thought, the scythe was ripped from him viciously back to its owner. His body had been torn into ribbons, and he knew without a doubt he was going to die, at least he would die together with Yugito.

Suddenly he was yanked into the recesses of his mind and he appeared in front of the seal, posted of Konoha. "What do you want fox, we're about to die, and I'm in no mood for your games or trickery!" Naruto snapped irritably. Sitting down on the wet sewer of a floor with his back pressed against the wall parallel to the cage, he waited to die. After thirteen years (or sixteen depending on perspective, he mused.) of suffering at the hands of his village, it was finally over. He could die, and then rest in peace.

**"Do not speak to me in such manner, you stupid mongrel. You should grovel at my feet and beg for power, little boy. I am the Kyuubi, and I refuse to die in such an inferior manner. Now pull the seal off and let me take care of this and you shall be spared." **Kyuubi spat out threateningly.

Naruto looked up at him, neon green eyes melding into red with tomes spinning around wildly. "Shut up!" Naruto roared, "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not releasing you, not now, not ever." Naruto added.

The Kyuubi looked at him dangerously, a dark glare that would make most shinobi run in fear. **"It appears you don't have a choice, monkey.**" Kyuubi said, before bursting out into laughter.

Naruto didn't want to find out what that meant, but he didas red chakra exploded around him.

**II**

Two blazing set of red, three sided pinwheels stared at each other hauntingly before the explosion rocked them both, sending them ricocheting across the sand, lightning whipping across their body as they shut their Sharingan eyes from the sheer agony of bright light burning into their retinas. Sasuke stood up slowly, pain tearing through his nerves as lightning chakra had embedded itself into his tenketsu. Pulling out his katana, he looked over at Itachi who was on his feet as well.

Sprinting towards his brother, his katana was ready to impale the traitorous Uchiha but Itachi deftly countered, grabbing the blade from the sides, holding Sasuke in place. Sasuke looked his brother in the eye, and the Mangekyou Sharingan swallowed him alive as he drowned in the world of Tsukyoumi.

…

_Sasuke stood in the middle of the Uchiha district, on the night Itachi slaughtered them all. He was back in his younger body and glaring at his older brother malevolently. "Why are we here, Itachi?" Sasuke demanded, his tone letting Itachi know he was short of patience. He knew that in this world, Itachi controlled time and the world itself. With that knowledge, he also knew his pseudo-Mangekyou Sharingan was the only thing to counter it._

_He felt no fear of being in danger. In today's battle, he might have not proved to Itachi that he was in fact superior or even equal, but he proved Itachi would have a hard fight ahead of him to take Sasuke out. What he might not have in strength, he was cunning, extremely so and that he had in spades._

"_Foolish otouto." Itachi called out, deactivating his Sharingan._

_To the Uchiha, that meant a sign of submission. _

_But Sasuke was not stupid and leveled his blood red eyes, releasing his Mangekyou and staring him down with three tomes in each eye, spinning madly. "You're the fool, nii-san." Sasuke taunted slowly, catching his breath even though he knew in this world, exhaustion didn't apply to either of them._

_Just pain…_

"_I'm assuming you know the truth of the clan, Naruto-kun must have told you after my departure." Itachi stated levelly. _

"_He told me his truth, what you showed him in the Mangekyou, I have no reason to believe it's what actually happened." Sasuke announced._

"_Then why aren't you fighting me at full strength?" Itachi asked softly. "Did I not tell you to hate me, surviving in such a despicable manner and to come to me when you had the same eyes? Have you killed your best friend Sasuke? Those are not your Mangekyou Sharingan eyes, those are mine." Itachi noted._

"_How do you know?" Sasuke asked._

"_It is the same Sharingan I gave Naruto, a copy of my own when I transferred part of my power into him… he must of transferred part of that power into you." Itachi stated plainly, his voice and face void of emotion._

"_You are right… I can't bring myself to kill Naruto, my closest friend, even if it meant getting my own Mangekyou in the process." Sasuke shot back._

"_Then you cannot defeat me, it is foolish to try to defeat me with a watered down version of my own Sharingan, Sasuke." Itachi remarked bluntly._

"_I can and will beat you Itachi, Mangekyou or not, because no matter what, I will forever hate you for what you've done to me. You robbed me of my childhood, of what could have been, and I will avenge my parents unless you give me the truth to why you slaughtered our clan, and perhaps I'll be merciful. Now tell me, why did you kill them? Why did you betray our clan, our parents?" Sasuke spat angrily._

"_Our clan… our clan? Our clan was founded in blood, and blood will redeem it. I redeemed our clan, blood flowed and cleansed it, leaving just you in the hopes of one last battle between us, and the winner, and the winner will continue the clan. Two brothers established the Uchiha to what it's become, and two of us will end it and something new will arise." Itachi explained._

"_Two brothers, what the hell are you talking about!?" Sasuke roared in anger, his fists clenched, his sides._

"_Do you know the history of our Sharingan?" Itachi asked plainly._

_Why does that matter Itachi? Sasuke thought._

"_Most believe that the Sharingan is a genetic offspring of a Byakugan from the Hyuuga." Sasuke stated._

"_Then I'd have to say most are wrong. Our Sharingan stems from Rikudo Sennin, the very first shinobi." Itachi replied methodically._

"_He's a six hundred year old myth. He didn't exist." Sasuke denied vehemently._

"_He did exist, and I think in some ways, he exists…" Itachi replied cryptically._

"_Stop talking nonsense, he'd have died of old age by now." _

"_Some things remain immortal, some cannot be killed, or no one knows a way to. For example, there is another amongst us who cannot die. But that is not important, Sasuke. What's important is that the Rikudo Sennin had two sons, one who loved peace and one who loved war. Fearing death in his old age, the Rikudo Sennin blessed his sons by giving the older brother more strength, to protect peace, and the younger brother was giving a variant of his father's eyes. Instead of the Rin'negan, he was giving the Sharingan." Itachi explained, his face still neutral._

"_What is the Rin'negan?" Sasuke asked._

"_The father of all doujutsu, the Rikudo Sennin wielded it and could control any bijuu, any element, and had power so strong he was literally invincible. Years passed and the descendents of the older brother became the Senju, the forest loving clan and clan to the First Hokage. The descendents of the younger brother became the Uchiha, rivals of the Senju, and warriors of inconceivable strength. Of that clan, arose Uchiha Madara, the first to unlock the Mangekyou Sharingan and leader of the Uchiha Clan, rival to Senju Hashirama." Itachi replied softly._

'_Uchiha Madara, I've heard that name before… what does this all have to do with why you slaughtered the clan? Answer me Itachi!" Sasuke demanded impetuously._

"_Madara-san has a statue of himself and the Shodai Hokage in the Valley of the End, statues built to remind the Uchiha what happens when you betray Konoha." Itachi said, his voice lowering._

"_You're not making any sense! Tell me!" Sasuke demanded, grabbing is right forearm with his left hand, he summoned up lightning chakra and sped at Itachi, ramming him through the chest with a Chidori._

_Suddenly Itachi exploded into a flock of ravens and Sasuke was kicked hard in the face. "I would if you'd listen." Itachi taunted._

"_Fine, hurry up so I can kill you." Sasuke demanded._

"_I already told you, you can't kill me, not without the eyes of the kaleidoscope." Itachi warned him. Sasuke's tomes spun angrily in his eyes. Itachi continue, undisturbed. "Madara raged war against the Senju in Hi no Kuni, when one clan hired the Senju, the rival clan hired the Uchiha and Madara loved it. Tired of bloodshed the Daimyo and Senju struck up a peace treaty with the Uchiha to form Konohagakure no Sato, but Madara refused, until his Uchiha brethren pleaded with him to stop the bloodshed that had claimed so many of the younger generation._

"_This lead to another battle. The battle for the Shodai Hokage election. Madara wanted to be Hokage, and Hashirama wanted to be Hokage. Fearing another war, the Uchiha demanded Madara to drop out of the election, betraying his ideals and in anger Madara left the village, vowing vengeance against the Uchiha."_

"_Why did the Uchiha fear another war?" Sasuke asked, ensnared into Itachi's tale._

"_Right after Konoha was formed, other countries adopted the ninja villages and were already battling to gain more territory. With the threat of an outside war, no one wanted one internally. An internal war would cause Konoha to weaken militarily and be pillaged by other ninja villages. So feeling betrayed, Madara left and returned years later, wielding the Kyuubi and the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan." Itachi explained._

"_Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan…" Sasuke repeated, stumbling around the words._

"_The Mangekyou Sharingan is accessed by the murder of one's closest friend. The Mangekyou is powerful, almost as powerful as the Rin'negan but power came with a price. For murdering your best friend, after using the Mangekyou, the more you use it, the blinder you become. The only cure is to murder your brother… a brother with the Mangekyou Sharingan." _

"_So that's what you want me for?" Sasuke demanded, "For a more powerful Sharingan?" Sasuke demanded, his eyes wide and watery. _

"_To measure myself against you." Itachi replied. "Madara murdered his brother and took his eyes and gained the Eternal Sharingan. This Sharingan's power was unlimited and didn't blind the user. Madara tried to use the Kyuubi to destroy the village and failed and in the end faced against Hashirama in the Valley of the End where the Shodai ran his through with a sword. He was believed to be dead. _

"_Years later, he returned to destroy Konoha with the Kyuubi again, but the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi away into is only child, a child born on that night, Uzumaki Naruto. Fearing his discovery, he fled again, but it was too late, the Yondaime was dead, and the Shinobi Council feared the Uchiha clan once again. As you know, the Nidaime established the Konoha Military Police, mainly using the Uchiha as the military force as a sign of trust. After the Kyuubi's return, ANBU monitored the Uchiha and the Council forced them to move into the Southern District of Konoha, secluded from the village."_

"_I don't remember that." Sasuke said, scowling._

"_You would have been too young, Sasuke. That is when the clan meetings began, hushed whispers behind the Sandaime's back, demanding that Fugaku-tousan do something to change it. Years had passed and they groomed me, his first born son into a weapon to be unleashed against Konoha if need be. They used me as a spy, making me join the ANBU, then relaying information to then during the clan's meetings. Danzou, an old war monger and rival to the Sandaime was part of the Shinobi High Council as well as the Sandaime's teammates, Koharu, and Homura. Those three orchestrated the Uchiha Massacre." Itachi confessed, locking eyes with his brother, a haunted look in his dark brown orbs._

"_If they orchestrated it, why did you slaughter them, why our parents damn it?" Sasuke demanded._

"_I betrayed the clan, that's why. Danzou is the ANBU Commander that reports to the Hokage, so as a member of the ANBU, I report to him. I double crossed the clan in an attempt to maintain peace. As Danzou became suspicious of the Uchiha, Fugaku-tousan raged a silent war against Konoha, a coup d'état to establish the Uchiha's supremacy over Konoha. That war would have weakened Konoha, which was ultimately more important than the village. So I was ordered to slaughter the clan, every last one of them." Itachi said dangerously, giving Sasuke a pointed look._

"_Then why am I alive?" Sasuke asked disbelievingly._

"_Because I wished it to be, because I couldn't kill my little brother Sasuke." Itachi replied eerily. _

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean, you almost did kill me!" Sasuke spat defensively._

"_No, I hurt you, made you hate so you would cultivate that hate, that anger, all in anticipation for this moment, where you and I would fight, and you would kill me, redeem me for my crimes against my clan and set me free of this life of slavery." Itachi admitted._

"_All that was for me to kill you?" Sasuke demanded angrily._

"_The Uchiha are driven by anger, their desire for revenge and war, so I used your angry to make you strong." Itachi said softly._

"_What about love!?" Sasuke yelled. "You were my older brother, the person I looked up to, I loved you damn it. You can't manipulate people like that, what the fuck is wrong with you?" _

_Itachi blinked._

"_Love, a useless word, like clan, and familial bonds. All that matters is the mission, at least for you Sasuke. You can't waste time with such frailties, or you will lose. The Akatsuki has members, all S-ranked and above, some more powerful then me. One of them being the man who helped slaughter the clan, Uchiha Madara. He is still alive, his Eternal Mangekyou is still powerful and you need to be at your strongest. You need to be an avenger, to become strong in hate and then after defeating Madara, restore the clan." Itachi stated._

"_If love was so useless, and familial bonds don't matter, why am I alive? You're a hypocrite Itachi, don't lecture me on anything because I'm done with your lessons, nii-san. From here on out, you will not manipulate ever again, I will live my life how I want, be rest assured, this Madara will be killed, especially if he's in the Akatsuki. There's one thing I need to know, what does Akatsuki want with Naruto? Why was Naruto targeted that day as a kid, it couldn't have just been because he was the vessel for the Kyuubi?" Sasuke asked._

"_You saw something when Naruto transferred part of my power into you." Itachi stated simply, looking at Sasuke suspiciously._

"_I thought I saw a man with one Sharingan eye." Sasuke confessed. "I never asked Naruto about it."_

"_He probably doesn't remember, it must have been a traumatic experience for someone so young." Itachi replied. "The truth is that Madara fears Naruto." Itachi explained._

"_Fears Naruto?" Sasuke asked disbelieving. "You made him seem immortal and now you tell me he's afraid of a fifteen year old genin?" _

"_Naruto's indirectly related to the Shodai, but Madara believed him to be a descendent of the Rikudo Sennin's younger son instead. Believing Naruto to possibly wield the Rin'negan, Madara sent people to kill him over the years. While the population of Konoha didn't care, the Sandaime did and kept Naruto from dying in his earlier years, when Naruto kept surviving, Madara attacked himself on his ninth birthday, and blinded him by taking his eyes and destroyed them to keep Naruto from getting the Rin'negan on top of being the Kyuubi's container. His foresight was Naruto's ancestry, with it actually being to the Shodai vice the doujutsu clan. Instead Naruto will become increasingly more powerful, having gained the strength and willpower from his ancestors. _

"_With him having that on top of the Kyuubi, his lineage to the Fourth Hokage and his techniques, plus the unforeseen Sharingan, Naruto will become the strongest Shinobi since the Rikudo Sennin, if not stronger." Itachi explained._

"_Is that why you gave him the Sharingan?" Sasuke asked._

"…_No one had given him a chance. I just happened to have an extra set of eyes on me at the time. I knew somehow that everything would rest on his shoulders, because I cannot defeat the Akatsuki alone. Madara-san and Leader-san are much more powerful than I. It is up to you and Naruto to defeat them, but first you have to defeat me and you aren't ready Sasuke." Itachi spat contemptuously. _

_Sasuke knew instinctively that this was the end of the conversation, and that once the Tsukyoumi would break, Itachi and Sasuke would go back to fighting. Shedding two twin tears for his brother, Sasuke once again activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and the world of Tsukyoumi swirled into a whirlpool of colors as the genjutsu deactivated. _

**III**

"RAIKIRI!" Kakashi bellowed, his hand encased in powerful, bright lightning chakra as he rammed it through the chest of Naruto's attacker, the silver-haired man holding the malevolent scythe. Blood and bits of bone sprayed out of the Akatsuki nin's sternum, who had just recently gotten up after Naruto's recent Keiji no Rasengan. The attack had been interrupted before the release but it had been devastating enough. Lightning chakra had exploded outward whipping around everyone close by. Once the spiral dome exploded, there was a gravitational pull and everything within a quarter mile was spinning around before flying backwards in a resonating explosion.

Kakashi had barely a split second to react before a raging fireball was sent his way from the other Akatsuki member, the one with a weird mask and deadened green eyes.

Seeing the silver haired shinobi had fallen, slain by his Chidori, Kakashi prepared to attack the next one. 'I can't believe the other was so easy, almost too easy.' Kakashi thought.

Before either ninja could move, they were blown backwards by sheer power and a foul red chakra that permeated through the sun-filled desert.

"Fuck, its Naruto!" Kakashi exclaimed, sending chakra to his feet as he pulled out the paper seals Jiraiya had given him Konoha before their departure. Before he could reach, his lone Sharingan caught sight of the scythe that took Naruto out whipping towards him. Using supernatural reflexes and foresight beyond a man his years, Kakashi leapt over the scythe which was connected to a long whip for long distance attacks, and launched a flurry of kunai at his attacker.

It was the silver haired man that he had previously used the Raikiri on. 'I thought he was dead.' Kakashi thought numbly, then noticed the large puncture through the Akatsuki member's chest where his sternum should be.

"Come back here fucker! I will sacrifice you to Lord Jashin for your sins." He bellowed. "Kakuzu, sew me up." He demanded afterwards and the green eyed shinobi walked up to him calmly and extended his hand, and black miasmal strings began shooting from his extended fingers into the wound of the silver haired Akatsuki member.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kakashi demanded angrily, having seen his once defeated foe rise up again.

"I am Kakuzu, and he is Hidan, we are the Immortals of Akatsuki, because we cannot be killed." Kakuzu spoke, peering at Kakashi through his creepy jade eyes.

"Immortals of Akatsuki… there is no such thing as immortality." Kakashi rebuked.

"Then explain to me Hatake Kakashi, son of Sakumo, how is it that after you tore a hole through Hidan's chest with a Raikiri, that he was able to get up and talk when you Raikiri pierced through his heart as well?" Kakuzu asked.

"I don't know, a genjutsu maybe." Kakashi replied.

"Don't be stupid, no genjutsus can fool the mastered Sharingan, you and I both know that." Kakuzu stated, letting out a disgusted snort. "Here I thought you were the genius of Konoha, foolish Kakashi. It is as I say, we are without a doubt immortal, whether you chose to wrap that around your small brain is inconsequential, seeing as you'll be dead along with you friends and this village." Kakuzu continued.

"That's not going to happen." Kakashi shot back, glaring at the man.

"You think you have seen it all have you, I've been around this world longer than you have, hell it was I that killed your Shodaime Hokage and took his head for bounty. My strength is inconceivable to little men such as yourself. Prepare to die, Hatake, and I will take your head for bounty. Iwa has a twenty two million ryou bounty on it. Double with the Sharingan attached." Kakuzu stated, and ripped off his Akatsuki cloak, tossing it haphazardly onto the sand.

"You were the one who killed the Shodai?" Kakashi asked doubtfully, pulling up his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan.

"Yes, and now I will kill you too, Copycat Kakashi." Kakuzu promised ruefully.

"Let me kill him Kakuzu!" Hidan demanded with a snarl. "Jashin wishes to taste his blood!" Hidan cried out.

"Kakashi is mine, I could use another heart for my collection." Kakuzu exclaimed dangerously, his eyes glaring over at the avid Jashinist.

"He attacked me first, he's mine." Hidan demanding, bloodlust leaking into his voice, as his killer intent rose.

"Shut up and stay out of the way Hidan, I couldn't give two fucks about you and your god." Kakuzu ordered, before turning around and kicking Hidan in the chest, sending him crashing a few millimeters away from the fallen body of Naruto, whose entire being was encompassed in a red shroud that reeked with the Kyuubi's chakra.

"I'm guessing you two aren't the best of friends are you?" Kakashi asked, giving Kakuzu his eerie eye-smile.

"No we're not. Merely partners, until Akatsuki has what they need and I can finally kill him." Kakuzu explained.

"So, battle to the death then huh?" Kakashi asked.

Kakuzu smirked underneath his white veil. "Yes, what fun this will be."

Suddenly the air was tense as the two shinobi faced off, one an S-ranked nukenin, the other an elite S-ranked jounin of Konoha.

Before Kakuzu could move, his ears caught wind of a sound of screeching birds, then his head slumped forward and he saw a lightning covered hand protruding through his chest. "What the… you never moved." Kakuzu grunted, black foul blood leaking from his lips.

"Kage Bunshin, while you were too busy arguing with Hidan, I created a shadow clone and used the Inner Decapitation technique to go underground and keep you busy with small talk. While you were talking to my shadow clone I built up the Raikiri and by then it was too late. So much for your immortal talk." Kakashi replied airily.

Ripping his arm free from the nukenin's chest, Kakashi was about to move towards where Hidan had landed when his Sharingan caught sight of the same black miasma from earlier shooting towards his face. Using the kawarimi no jutsu and swapping places with his shadow clone expertly, he saw the Kakuzu was back up to his feet and the Kage Bunshin had been decapitated, exploding into a cloud of smoke.

"What was that Hatake, something about me not being immortal? So much for that…" Kakuzu growled out and began running through a set of hand seals so fast, Kakashi almost missed them. A roaring blast of fire exploded from Kakuzu's mouth and churned towards Kakashi so fast he hadn't enough time to move out of the way.

Going through his own hand seals, he managed to fire off a Suiton: Water Vortex jutsu. The Suiton was enough to put out the Katon jutsu and soak the two shinobi as well as the sand. Kakuzu was back on the offensive, charging at Kakashi and launching an earth attack that made the sodden sand rise up from the ground in spikes to impale Kakashi.

'So he can use fire and earth jutsu…' Kakashi mused, narrowly avoiding the spikes that threatened to take him out.

Kakashi avoided the next set of earth spikes and got behind Kakuzu ready to hit him with another Raikiri and he noticed the puncture wound from his earlier one was still there, and that there were four other masks. Each mask had a kanji from each element on it, excluding lightning and realization suddenly dawned on Kakashi.

He had quickly understood Kakuzu's 'immortality' jutsu. But before he could react, the katon mask on the back opened its mouth and fired a wave of fire at him. Moving over to the left, he pivoted and leapt in the air but Kakuzu had already turned around and Kakashi's feet planted themselves into his face.

Leaping of his face, he back flipped acrobatically and landed gracefully on his feet, his three tomes on his Sharingan spinning wildly as it took in his opponent. 'He has five hearts, one with each element, so that's why when I pierced him with the Raikiri he was still alive, he has four hearts left to go.' Kakashi mused to himself.

'Each heart allows him to use an element, which must be why he was talking about having to take mine as well. He knew already that in battle he'd end up losing at least one, so by taking mine, he would be back to his stock five. What I bet he didn't figure out was that I'd decipher his jutsu so quickly, which I probably wouldn't of had he not clued me in plus with the two years of training in the seal, I've developed quite a bit as well.' Kakashi thought.

Kakuzu caught Kakashi's piercing Sharingan gaze and laughed. "You've deciphered my jutsu already? Now I realize why they call you the genius of Konoha. It is of no matter, knowing how to defeat me and having the tools necessary to defeat me are two different things. Did your Sharingan show you this?" Kakuzu asked, before clasping his fingers into the ram seal. The masks on his back exploded outward, taking a corporeal body of their own.

Each masked formed a body that was connected to their location on Kakuzu's back with black strings. 'This is bad.' Kakashi thought.

"You are doomed Hatake-san, not only do these masks have charka, but they can use that element to their fullest, as well as I. You might think this is bad, but not so bad seeing as they are connected. Not necessarily." Kakuzu explained, releasing the strings to the masks, allowing them to move freely.

"You know what your problem is Kakuzu?" Kakashi asked.

Kakuzu's eyes went wide with surprise.

"You talk too fucking much." Kakashi replied, summoning up another fistful of lightning as he streaked past Kakuzu and was ready to pierce the Suiton heart. Kakashi felt his right hand go numb on contact, his knuckles cracking and bruised after the blow.

"What the hell?" Kakashi muttered and realized something…

The masks had been switched with kawarimi.

Instead of using the very effective lightning against water, it had ended up being swapped with the Earth, the element lightning was weak against. Somehow the mask had taken up the properties of stone and the lightning chakra not only backfired against Kakashi, but he had fucked up his hand in the process.

Falling to his knees, he looked up to see the Katon and Fuuton mask next to each other. "Oh fuck." Kakashi whispered.

There was a blast of fire followed by a howl of wind.

Kakashi knew he was about to die.

**IV**

The Sandaime, Third Fire Shadow of Konoha had many regrets. Most involved Naruto, some involved allowing Minato to die instead of him twelve years ago. Konoha had flourished under the young Namikaze and a loss of courage allowed Minato to slip away into the night, a baby Naruto in his hands. Konoha hadn't flourished under an old Hokage whose mind had been slipping as well as his control over the very land he ruled.

He had become a puppet figure while Danzou and the High Shinobi Council pulled strings in the background, and the Uchiha had been slaughtered, and Naruto's innocence had been robbed. So many mistakes and regrets weighed heavily on his old, aching bones.

But here, he would make up for it, no matter what.

A sense of foreboding told him he would die here, and leaving Asuma and Konohamaru behind.

It hurt, almost enough to bring tears to the Kami no Shinobi's eyes.

But he had to do this, he had to make up for his mistakes. He had to fight this Akatsuki, an organization so evil it threatened Konoha, his home. Akatsuki threatened Naruto's existence, Konohamaru's existence, it threatened the world's existence, and for that Sarutobi would lay his life down with a steely glint in his eyes.

"Sandaime-sama, there's an Akatsuki member 100 meters up ahead, he's in the sky on some sort of chakra guided bird. He's fighting against what looks like the Kazekage's son." Hiashi informed him.

"Hai, thank you Hiashi, I'll take care of him." Sarutobi Hiruzen announced, moving forward to attack the Akatsuki member until an explosion rocked them backwards, the sand exploding underneath tem and sending them tumbling back.

"You shouldn't of come, Sarutobi-sensei." A voice hissed out and Sarutobi froze, recognizing the voice immediately. It was the voice of his most wayward student, someone he hadn't seen in years, Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru, what are you doing here interfering?" Sarutobi asked.

"I've come to ensure your death." Orochimaru replied, his tongue rolling around his lips.

"Hiashi, take care of that other Akatsuki member, I'll deal with one of my past mistakes." Sarutobi said regretfully, never taking his eyes of Orochimaru.

"Will do, Sandaime-sama." Hiashi replied, sprinting away from the two, Byakugan activated.

"So old monkey, are you prepared to die?" Orochimaru asked.

"What do you really want Orochimaru?" Sarutobi asked softly, slowly taking of his tan cloak revealing the battle attire underneath.

"So you came prepared to battle… and die. It seems no harm in telling you of my plans, sensei. I plan to kill you, and then destroy Konoha." Orochimaru announced, letting out a small laugh.

"You're still immature and hurt that you were not chosen to be the Yondaime Hokage. This is why you were not chosen, yet since you chose to threaten our peaceful village, it is only fitting that I defend it from evil doers like you." Sarutobi replied.

"You will not win this battle, old monkey."

"Perhaps, but neither will you." Sarutobi responded.

The two Kage level shinobi charged at each other, fist cocked back. The next battle had begun.

**V**

Naruto's body lifted itself up on its own accord, three tails of chakra stemming from behind him, his eyes ruby red and feral, his black whisker lines darkened, his spiky blonde hair coarse and thicker. Naruto's mouth opened and roared in agony, his body hunching over as his skin began to sizzle and burn, coming off him in chunks. A small shroud began floating into existence from the third tail and Naruto's flesh came off his face, his blood bubbled around him and rose, forming a black sphere in which contained him.

Kisame had just managed to get up, though he too was in fatal condition. The Keiji no him Rasengan had caught cleanly in its blast circumference even if it hadn't been a complete attack. The lightning chakra had shot outwards and ripped off a chunk of his upper torso, taking his right arm with it. The right side of his face had been sheared off, blinding him completely as both eyes had been destroyed in the blast.

Unable to see, Kisame stumbled about, trying to escape away from the blonde jinchiruuki who had done so much damage.

It wasn't supposed to go down like this.

The Kyuubi's vessel was supposed to be blind, and weak.

Yet somehow Naruto had acquired a Sharingan in both eyes, was older and more trained then he should be. His strength was way beyond what a supposed twelve year old should be at. Naruto was an A-ranked jounin level shinobi without the Kyuubi, with it, well Kisame wasn't sure what exactly could stop him short of Uchiha Madara.

Speaking of the Uchiha, Itachi had been the one to give the information. Had Itachi double crossed them?

…

"_Where are Shishui's eyes?" Madara demanded, looking at the stoic fifteen year old with contempt. _

"_They had been lost in the battle against the Uchiha, for that I apologize Madara-san." Itachi apologized._

"_You know this set's our organization's goals back. Danzou wanted those eyes, the bargain was the Kyuubi. Now we must bargain something else!" Madara snapped irately._

"_I have already settled that with Danzou, I gave him several sets including my father's." Itachi explained apathetically._

"_Your father's eyes are worthless, all he was able to do was powerful genjutsu with them. Shishui had the eyes, his could control people's thoughts and those were the eyes Danzou needed. Why did you give him several sets of eyes, he will most likely try to use the Izanagi, our forbidden jutsu even to us!" Madara snapped._

"_Madara-san, Danzou is a frail man, with frailer eyes. Giving him the Shishui's eyes would have been stupid, at least he's satisfied for now. The jinchiruuki is blind and weak with no chance of being a ninja. It seems you have a better deal this way." Itachi explained coldly._

_Madara slapped Itachi hard in the face. "I suggest for your love of your life, you should never take that tone with me again." Madara threatened dangerously._

_Before either could move or speak, Madara's face was on fire with black flames. "And I suggest for your love of life and your eyes that you never do that again." Itachi warned coldly. Madara dropped to the ground and tried to rid the fire and found it was gone._

"_I think I understand just fine Itachi-san." Madara replied, getting to his feet shakily._

…

Had Itachi betrayed them all this time?

Before he could do too much he felt the air pulsate with power. He tried to escape but fell to his knees, exhausted and most likely fatally wounded. Normally he had his chakra and Samehada to rejuvenate him but both were gone.

Naruto stood in front of him, his body at least.

Kyuubi was doing all the driving.

Naruto was on all fours, his skin ruby red and darkened. His green eyes were gone and replaced with white orbs of light. His mouth enlarged like that of a wolf, and light began to build up in his mouth.

A skeletal frame was surrounding his body as some sort of defense.

Six tails whipped back and forth.

"What the fuck?" Kisame asked fearfully.

Naruto looked at him dispassionately, bright holes burning away where his eyes used to be. The light in his mouth built and Naruto reared his head back, before bringing it forth sending a destructive beam of light at Kisame.

Kisame was no more…

…Neither was Naruto.

A/N: Again, sorry for the long six month delay. As the manga continues to disappoint me, my writing efforts have slowed. Not too mention I'm somewhere in the Persian Gulf right now and internet is AOL 1.0 slow. Hopefully the next chapter will be out next month rather than next year again.


	15. The Lost Jinchuuriki

Requiem Of A Demon

Chapter Fifteen: The Lost Jinchuuriki

AN: Alright I'm going to explain how the elements work in this fic, since I don't particularly agree with Kishimoto on this one. Fire is good against wind, weak to water. Wind is good against earth, weak to fire. Earth is good against Lightning, weak to wind. Lighting is good against water, weak to Earth. Someone in the last chapter called out that lighting is good against earth and weak to wind. I don't see how that could be. Earth is not really receptive to lightning, unlike water which is a great conductor. That's just how it's going to be.

I

Never in his life had Kisame been this scared. He was shaking, his muscles trembling as he attempted for force his chakra into healing his eye so he could see. His visibility was limited now, all he could see was a fuzzy figure in front of him, with six tail like appendages thrashing about, and a foul chakra suffocating him. His vision began clearing and it was immediately fuzzy again as a bright light came out of his opponents mouth.

The jinchuuriki reared his head back and when it came forward Kisame knew he was going to die. A bright blast of white hot chakra came bursting from the chuunin's mouth and collided into him.

He couldn't feel much, most of his nerves had been fried from the Kyuubi's vessel's last attack, but he felt a pressure on his chest as demonic youkai burned into him and he could smell his flesh sizzling and then he was swallowed whole by a furious wave of destructive energy until nothing remained.

Six tails thrashed angrily, blowing back sand in a flurry, completely unaffecting the beast. A smile broke out of the maw that was supposed to be its mouth, as light continued to build in the beast's eyes, then dissipated, leaving a fox looking humanoid with blood red Sharingan eyes, tomes spinning in a continuous circle.

Jagged teeth gleamed with saliva, as the Kyuubi's blood red eyes peered out, looking for the next target. The Kyuubi stood there in all its glory, and the tails stretched out, before it hurtled forward, spotting familiar figures in the distance.

It saw the one its vessel held dear, the one he called Kakashi-niisan. He was bent on the ground on one knee and one of the Akatsuki members was about unleash a powerful Kafuuton attack through a pair of standalone masks marked katon and futon. The Kyuubi moved gracefully, leaping through the air, its tails propelling him forward, it sent a wave of chakra in the form of a hand towards the Akatsuki agent, catching him by surprise as it gripped his throat tightly, and began squeezing the life out of him.

These were the people who were hunting it and its vessel.

The Kyuubi roared and blast another beam of pure energy at the Akatsuki agent, ready to decapitate him but black velvety ropes burst free from the agent's body and sent him flying away. The Kyuubi swiveled around to look at the man they called Hatake Kakashi, or better known as Sharingan no Kakashi. Its blood red eyes looked menacingly at the spiky haired leaf jounin.

"Are you in there Naruto?" Kakashi asked worriedly.

"He's not home. I suggest you run now**…**" Kyuubi warned and Kakashi's eyes widened.

He must have thought the seal's broken… If it had, I'd be using all nine tails and I'd be in my former body, not this half assed mimicry, Kyuubi thought.

Kakashi froze in fear, knowing that the beast in front of him was not Naruto, but the Kyuubi no Yoko.

"Did the seal break? Did Naruto tear the seal?" Kakashi asked hesitantly, not wanting to anger one of the most powerful beings in existence, and the very thing that killed his sensei.

"Obviously not!" the Kyuubi scoffed. "Else I'd be a few hundred feet tall with nine tails thrashing about destroying everything." Kyuubi sneered, looking down at the elite jounin, analyzing him with blood red eyes.

Kakashi lowered his gaze and felt the hot breath of the Kyuubi spreading over him like an unwelcome blanket, the foul chakra making his breath catch in his throat, and sweat bead down his back.

"Why did you save me?" Kakashi then asked, his muscles tense and ready to spring into action at any point in time.

"Because of Naruto-kun. You have kept to your promise, and honored your sensei well. While I couldn't care about either of the blonde monkeys, through your kindness, my life has been easier in a sense. Do not look further into it than that, Hatake. When Naruto does return to this body, maintain what you are doing. Before I go, I will give you a parting gift." Kyuubi offered.

"You don't have to, you've spared me already." Kakashi replied warily.

"Be quiet and do not test my patience. I am only doing this because it will benefit Naruto in the long run, the fact that it will benefit you is not important to me. But I warn you now, this will hurt, a lot in fact, so I do get a kick out of this." Kyuubi said mockingly, a unbefitting grin coming from its maw.

"What are you going to do?" Kakashi asked cautiously.

"I'm going to imbue you with blood, the same blood that runs in Naruto's veins." the Kyuubi replied honestly.

"Why? For what purpose?" Kakashi asked, his eyes rising as he looked at the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi's hot breath continued enveloping him. "He sees you as his brother, it's only fit to make it official. By having Naruto's blood in your veins, you'll gain more than you want to know." Kyuubi warned.

"Alright, I guess I don't have a choice but to do as you say." Kakashi relented, breathing slow as he watched a blood colored needle come out from the Kyuubi or better yet Naruto's index finger. The needle pricked into his arm and Kakashi screamed as it felt like flames consumed him whole.

It was like Itachi set him aflame with the Amaterasu. It burned agonizingly slow, and his throat was horse from screaming, his eyes were itching and burning and he wanted to claw them out with his bare hands. His hands instinctively moved up to claw at his eyes but the Kyuubi gripped him.

"Don't move it's over." It warned and suddenly the pain was gone.

Kakashi dropped to his knees and grabbed a kunai. He wasn't sure if he was going to attack the Kyuubi or himself yet.

"Look at your eyes." the Kyuubi commanded roughly. "There was some side affects."

Kakashi flipped the kunai on its side so it reflected his face and saw his eyes.

They were both a light brown, just like his normal eyes, just like his father's. "My Sharingan…it's gone." Kakashi cried out hoarsely.

"Is it?" the Kyuubi asked, grinning again and Kakashi was sure he'd piss himself if it grinned again.

Focusing chakra to his eyes he almost choked as he saw the brown mutate into blood red with three tomes in each eyes. Kakashi had the Sharingan in both eyes…

"Ah, so now you see." Kyuubi mocked looking down at the stunned man with Naruto's Sharingan eyes. "These eyes, these hateful eyes will be with you forever Sharingan no Kakashi. You just as Naruto and Sasuke, Itachi and Madara will be forever enslaved to the power of the Sharingan. Naruto's blood runs through you as well, you will feel the difference as his genes merge with yours." Kyuubi continued.

"What differences?" Kakashi asked numbly.

"I can't make it too easy for you monkey. Go find out, I don't have much time to wreak havoc." Kyuubi pointed out, and flung himself forward again.

The Akatsuki agent that had fled earlier stood and waited for the Kyuubi and as the Kyuubi was about to land in front of Kakuzu when jet black ropes exploded from the ground and wrapped themselves around the Kyuubi to suffocate it. "Got you." Kakuzu sneered as a wave of ropes covered the Kyuubi entirely.

Kakuzu stood there grinning, manipulating the black inky strings through the sand mentally and with chakra. His masks had crawled back into his back, though his lightning mask had been destroyed earlier by Kakashi's Raikiri. He would have Kakashi's heart…

Right after he subdued the Kyuubi.

Clenching the Kyuubi between the inky ropes, he smirked.

Suddenly the binds that held the Kyuubi spontaneously combusted, and caught on fire. The Kyuubi roared and the bonds melted underneath the Kyuubi's rage. "Stupid human, you think that's enough to stop me!?" It roared, copy wheel eyes bearing down on Kakuzu.

Kakuzu suddenly realized he was dealing with the Kyuubi and not its vessel. "Oh shit…" he said nervously, backing up as he launched another wave of black, velvety strings to keep the Kyuubi away.

Kyuubi laughed and bit into the strings, ripping them into pieces and was about to leap into the air to pounce on Kakuzu when a scythe cut through the air into the Kyuubi's neck.

It was ineffective.

Kyuubi swiveled its eyes and saw the silver haired Akatsuki agent Hidan. "Big mistake." It growled out through its fanged mouth.

Hidan's eyes widened, his scythe rendered ineffective by the Kyuubi. It should have taken its head off, at the least hurt him a little, but it seemed it had done nothing to the bijuu. "Hidan, run, report to leader the situation." Kakuzu ordered.

"No, I'm not leaving you here fucker. We're a team, even if I plan to kill you some day." Hidan snapped back, pulling his scythe back and leaping in the air to strike the Kyuubi again.

Kyuubi reared its head back and brought forth a wave of fire that blast into Hidan's chest knocking him backwards. Kakuzu took the opportunity to run through a set of hand seals quickly, and brought both hands to his mouth. "Kafuuton: Kami Hikyuu no Jutsu!" he bellowed, and funneled wind charka into a dome in between his hands. The dome began spinning and suddenly a blast of fire roared from the S-ranked shinobi's mouth into the wind chakra and formed a large spiraling dragon, shooting its way towards the Kyuubi.

Its size easily doubled the Kyuubi as the Fire Dragon God jutsu continued spiraling towards the nine tailed fox. The Fire Dragon was blazing hot, whitish blue in color and had a large range that they Kyuubi wouldn't be able to avoid. The Kyuubi narrowed its eyes and brought one clawed hand forward and formed a spiraling sphere in his hands, reminiscent of Naruto's Rasengan.

There sphere continued spinning, bleeding with black and red chakra and Kyuubi moved forward and slammed the attack into the incoming fire dragon and the attacks collided. The sphere kept spinning and spiraling, shredding through the fire dragon with ease, spraying the sky and the sands with fire, causing some of the sand to combust.

Kakuzu's eyes widened as he saw his S-class jutsu reduced to nothing and let out a hollow scream as the Kyuubi had continued forward with his attack, the spiraling sphere catching his unprotected chest and grinding through the solar plexus, bone fragments shooting forward and out his back, finally exploding and knocking backwards in a spiral.

He lay on the ground, bleeding out as blood rushed in the direction gravity sent it, right out of his broken chest. He could tell he lost another two hearts, he felt like he died twice in that attack and as he tried to call his charka forward, he knew it was his katon and doton masks that had been destroyed by the Kyuubi.

It stalked him and hovered over his broken body and if he didn't get the hell out of here soon, he would die and a hundred and forty years of hard work would go to waste. He was Kakuzu of the Waterfall, the man who killed the Shodai, the Nidaime Mizukage and Tsuchikage.

He had made millions of ryou as a bounty hunter, killing thousands of missing nin in the process. He tried crawling forward, to try to salvage his last two hearts and he just couldn't die here, not here, not after everything he'd been through.

…

"_I am Senju Jozu, I am here to claim your land. Leave now and we'll spare you, fight us and no one will be spared." Jozu announced, interrupting the local celebration in the Village Hidden in the Waterfall. _

"_We will not surrender." Kazama Akira, the high jounin of the village of replied, pulling his katana swiftly._

"_You mustn't fight him father, I'll take care of this." Kakuzu offered, looking at his father grimly._

"_You mustn't face the Senju son, you aren't ready for that, and they have kekkei genkai that surpasses most of our skills. I have to do this." Akira replied, sliding into an offensive stance._

"_Let me prove myself to you father." Kakuzu demanded, the fifteen year old not taking no for an answer. Moving in front of his father, the legendary water user, Kakuzu leapt in front of Jozu of the Senju and pulled out a kodaichi and charged. The battle was over soon thereafter and Jozu formed a wooden spear from his chakra and launched it in the air, and pierced Kakuzu in the heart and he fell over onto his stomach._

_As he laid there dying, the world faded to black and he expired._

_Somehow he awoke much later. He was alive, and somehow stronger. "What happened?" He managed to mutter out through cracked lips._

"_Your father sacrificed himself, he gave you his heart. Jozu managed to escape afterwards and took his clansmen with him. They promised to return and bring more with them." His mother Kazama Kiri told him as she sobbed and cried over his prone form._

"_He gave me his heart?" Kakuzu asked confused._

"_Yes, Jozu had killed you and your father used his medical kinjutsu to give you his heart." Kiri told him sadly._

"_When Jozu returns, I will avenge tou-san, and I will take the Senju's heart in return. I will cut off the rest of their heads and collect the bounty from the Uchiha, this I promise." Kakuzu assured his grieving mother._

…

Kakuzu coughed up blood and struggled to get up. Black blood spewed from his lips and onto the sand.

"Back up Kyuubi!!!" A voice called out and the Kyuubi swiveled its eyes to see a red haired puppet in tattered clothes holding out the body of Nii Yugito. A long steel tail was protruding through her stomach. Knowing puppet users loved poisoned, Kyuubi now knew the reason for her death.

"I suggest you let her go this instant." Kyuubi growled out.

"Only if you surrender to us." The red hair puppet bargained.

"Let her go, now!" Kyuubi roared out.

"Surrender." The Akatsuki agent repeated.

Kyuubi glared and disappeared in a flash, his mouth opening and catching the surprised Akatsuki agent by the throat, clenching down hard and ripping his head clean off. Smashing the wooden head between his teeth and spitting it out, the Kyuubi walked over to the fallen Yugito and looked at her sadly, almost longingly.

"Not just yet Nibi-chan, not yet." Kyuubi stated.

Hidan rushed to jump in when he was interrupted Uchiha Itachi grabbing him and slamming him back down. "We need to go now." Itachi ordered, looking at Kakuzu and Hidan.

"I will kill that bijuu fucker. I will show him that Jashin destroys his enemies, the power of my religion." Hidan screamed, holding his scythe in front of him.

"Do not let your anger blind you into believing you can defeat the Kyuubi, especially when it is seething with anger. Your partner Kakuzu is in no condition to fight, and you aren't in best shape. I am almost out of chakra and the Kyuubi killed Kisame and Sasori, and Deidara has yet to defeat the Ichibi. We must regroup and try again." Itachi said calmly.

"No!!! Jashin must receive his offerings today, the blood of the non believers must be spilled Uchiha Itachi!" Hidan shrieked out, raising his scythe to his lips.

"What are you doing?" Itachi demanded.

"Giving my god what he deserves." Hidan replied, licking the blood on the blade clean, before deftly stabbing himself on the foot and watching in amusement as blood seeped from his foot as he formed a circle in the sand.

Kyuubi laid Yugito down to the ground and held a clawed hand over her chest. "You cannot die yet, Nibi." Kyuubi stated, and his hand glowed pitch black and slowly the organs pierced by Sasori's tail began to regenerate. The pierced flesh began stitching itself back up and her fatal wound was healed with nothing but a slight scar left in its place.

Black flames began seeping from her pores, covering her whole body.

Hidan's skin turned black with a white skeletal outline, his normally purple eyes turned black and he finished a star on the inside of the circle. "Respect my god!" Hidan screamed and grabbed a kunai.

"Chidori!!!" Sasuke screamed, ramming Hidan in the back with a lightning filled fist. Sasuke's fist burst through Hidan's chest and the Jashinist began laughing insanely, before ripping himself free and clubbing Sasuke hard across the face, sending him backwards.

Suddenly the Kyuubi roared in rage as a hole appeared right through his left side. The hole tore through the lung all the way into the back. The Kyuubi fell flat on his face into the sand, and the skeletal frame disappeared and the six tails began receding one by one. The two groups watched in amazement as the Kyuubi slowly reverted back into a Naruto, whose skin had been burned off in the process of turning into the six tailed beast.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, blood red spheres peering into his best friend Sasuke. "God, you always did fuck shit up." Naruto commented as Sasuke rushed to his side.

"What happened, why did you receive the wound I gave Hidan?" Sasuke demanded.

"Baka, he almost sliced me in half. His jutsu must rely on that circle he's standing on, he must have swallowed my blood that was on the scythe and that's what his jutsu must do. If he swallows the enemies' blood, the enemy receives whatever damage is done to him, and since he's immortal, he can live through that." Naruto whispered out.

"How do we stop it from hurting you?" Sasuke asked frantically.

"Get him outside the cursed circle stupid." Naruto croaked out, blood spewing from his lips. His head turned slightly and his eyes dulled.

"Naruto!!!" Sasuke bellowed. Somehow, in some twisted irony, he had done what Itachi had done.

He had killed his closest friend.

Only he hadn't meant to.

Tears slid down his cheeks, and he felt hot, seething rage at the Akatsuki for having put them through this. He ignored Hidan's taunts and laughter and continued sobbing out. "Naruto…"

"We must go now." Itachi demanded crossly, his Sharingan morphing into twin three sided pinwheels.

"What's the rush, we got the brats where we want them." Hidan replied.

"I'm leaving, you can choose to stay." Itachi replied, his voice low and dangerous.

Sasuke fell to his knees, tears stilling spilling down his cheeks. Bending over he picked up Kakuzu off the sand and disappeared in a swirl of black flames, after giving his brother one last final glance.

Sasuke hovered over Naruto's body, tears spilling down onto Naruto's frame. Sasuke didn't notice that Sasori's headless body had stood up on its own accord, and its tail slid through the sand before rising up, ready to attack Sasuke and pierce him like he did to Yugito.

The tail whizzed by ready to catch the Uchiha off guard.

Whether by instinct or by shinobi prowess, the Uchiha survivor noticed and grabbed the metal tail, yanking it forward and bringing Sasori's headless puppet body with it. As the body was yanked forward, Sasuke pulled his leg back and then brought it forward in a devastating kick to the puppet user's heart, shattering it instantly and spraying blood everywhere.

As Sasori's eyes widened in surprise, the redhead's only regret before dying was that his art had been destroyed in a bang, like Deidara's.

The last thing he saw was a burst of black flames.

"Sasuke, your eyes…" a voice called out, breaking Sasuke out of his concentration. Sasuke looked over at his sensei Kakashi.

"I know, I used the Mangekyou." Sasuke replied curtly.

"It's different. It's not Itachi's Mangekyou." Kakashi replied.

Sasuke looked confused.

_Come to me again, when you have eyes like mine. Run, foolish little brother, despise me surviving in such a pathetic way, hate me and come to me again when you have the same eyes as me._

_For an Uchiha to achieve the level of Mangekyou Sharingan, one must kill his closest friend._

Suddenly he realized it.

Gone was Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan, replaced by his own kaleidoscope. Pulling out a kunai and holding it to his face, he almost sobbed.

Instead of Itachi's three sided pinwheels, there was an 8 pointed star in a sea of red.

The gift, the price he had paid for killing his best friend.

"Naruto!!!"

"Your blood will be for Jashin!" Hidan cried out, interrupting his sobs.

"Your blood will be for Naruto. I will avenge his death." Sasuke replied, sliding into his offensive stance.

II

Sixty armed shinobi in ANBU like gear were kneeled in front of him, waiting for his signal. A man hobbled out with a cane, half of his face hidden by white bandages with tufts of hair poking out, and an X-like scar on his chin. "Ne, I have a mission for you. The Raikage has sent his Jinchuuriki and his team to destroy Konoha. You are to stop them at all costs. Godaime-sama has sent out a few teams of his ANBU as well but they will be too weak to stop the Hachibi's vessel. Assist them and confront the kumo ninja directly. That is why you stand in front of me in ANBU gear. You are to appear as one of their ninja, and not one of mine. Hurry now, and do not let lightning destroy the tree that is Konoha. Once the tree is destroyed, so are its roots, remember that."

Giving the signal, forty of the ninja disappeared in a flash and then there was twenty remaining. "Those that remain, should the others fail and the Hachibi destroys Konoha, you're assignment is to assassinate the Godaime, thus allowing me to become Rokudaime." Danzou ordered, and the other twenty disappeared in a flash.

The pieces were sliding into place.

He would be a fool to let his most likely last chance slip between his fingers like his fingers.

Hobbling out of the central forces room, he managed to make it to his secret private office that not even Ne knew about. Sitting down at his seat, he placed his palms together and contemplated Sarutobi's final words to him.

…

"_Good afternoon, old friend." Sarutobi called out, walking into his hidden office. Danzou's eyes widened and clutched a kunai, ready to slice his throat until he saw it was the recently retired Hokage._

"_How do you know where this office was at, no one should know!?" Danzou demanded. _

_Sarutobi smiled wearily. "I have always known where you hide at Rat." Sarutobi replied. "Yes I still remember us in ANBU. I was Monkey of course. Since I've become Hokage, you have undermined me at every turn friend, when I've done nothing to warrant such hostilities old friend." Sarutobi spoke with such calamity that it unnerved Danzou._

"_I have not meant to undermine you, Sandaime-sama, I just have Konoha's best interest at heart." Danzou replied, bowing low to the Third Fire Shadow of Konoha._

"_There is no need for such formalities, Danzo-kun. This will be the last time we speak, after all, you know you could always call me Hiruzen." Sarutobi responded, pulling out his pipe and motioning for Danzou to give him permission. Danzou nodded and Sarutobi lit his pipe, blowing out a small cloud of smoke._

"_Do you foresee yourself dying, or are you here to kill me now?" Danzou asked, trying to see what he had to prepare himself for. _

"_Do you feel endangered, Danzou. Like I said, I have always known where you hide at, had I chosen to I could have crushed you a long time ago and spared the headache you'd become." Sarutobi stated, blowing out another cloud of smoke._

_His face was apathetic, completely shinobi like and emotionless, yet Danzou could feel an underlying message, a sense of disappointment in Sarutobi's words that he was trying to understand. _

"_But I have spared you, all this time, because you did have Konoha's best interest at heart, even when it's cost the Leaf lots of lives for your defiance. Your morale and consciousness have deteriorated so much and it's claimed the lives of the Uchiha, the childhood of Uzumaki Naruto, and so many others." Sarutobi continued._

"_To be frank Hiruzen, it was not my defiance that cost so many their lives, but it was your weakness, your refusal to acknowledge the threats that sometimes are within our own village!" Danzou snapped, looking at Hiruzen through one onyx colored eye. "You have changed from the god of shinobi to a senile, old puppet whose peace loving beliefs have destroyed the military prowess of Konoha." Danzou spat out._

_Sarutobi blew another cloud of smoke. "Those peace loving beliefs were inherited from the Shodaime and the Nidaime when I took over their mantle. Those piece loving beliefs are what allowed Konoha to strive and become the strongest of the five nations, and so it has remained. Those beliefs are what keep you alive now, or else you would be crushed under fist." Sarutobi replied dangerously, his voice low and grave._

"_I am alive simply because you need me, or else you wouldn't have freed me from prison, don't you Sarutobi?" Danzou said snidely, smirking. "Someone has to do what my Root forces do. We do the horrible things your shinobi do not have the gall to do."_

"_Perhaps, but remember this, I did not spare Koharu and Homura. I will not return from this trip to Sunagakure, but remember this Danzou-kun, leave Naruto and Sasuke alone." Hiruzen warned, an unreadable look passing through his face._

"_They are after me, we will eventually fight in battle." Danzou confessed honestly. "You being around is the only thing that stops the Uzumaki and the Uchiha from taking revenge." _

"_They will kill you, you must know that." Hiruzen replied._

"_I may be as old as you Hiruzen, but even I have tricks up my sleeve." Danzou assured casually._

"_Naruto will be even stronger than the Fourth, he is nearly at his level now. He will be legendary, almost as famous as the Rikudo Sennin. Sasuke is going to pass Itachi easily, and if you spite him, and blacken his heart anymore, he will be the next Uchiha Madara. Not to mention Kakashi is almost a father figure for them, he will destroy you if you even breathe their name. He isn't our most feared jounin for any reason, and he could smell you out if he wanted to, so I suggest you leave them all alone. But knowing you, you will not, and so in the afterlife I will see you, rival." Sarutobi answered, bidding his closest friend goodbye._

"_Was there ever any good times between us?" Danzou asked._

_Sarutobi was quiet for a second. "Of course there was, we're best friends after all." He replied, never looking back and disappearing out of there._

…

Danzou frowned slightly. He felt somewhat displeased at the fact he would not obey Sarutobi's last wishes. He would disgrace Sarutobi's name and betray them, because Konoha required it so.

Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke needed to die.

Because Konoha demanded it.

III

Hiashi was having a hard time defending against Deidara, the S-class nukenin from Iwa. The nukenin had the ability to form clay and mix it with chakra to have explosive results. Not to mention with a psychotic Jinchuuriki next to him trying to kill him while he defended him from Deidara wasn't helping either. Hyuuga Hiashi was a retired jounin and it showed, his chakra pool was less than expendable and his Jyuuken wasn't flawless like it used be.

"This is my art, yeah." Deidara called out, launching a handful of spiders at Hiashi.

A wave of sand was summoned to crush a few but a few still fell towards them. Sighing in exhaustion the Hyuuga clan leader's glowed blue as he charged in and began striking the falling spiders, deactivating by striking at specific points in the spider's chest. A spider dropped next to him and he instinctively spun around as he released a kaiten blowing the spider upwards as it exploded.

"You're not too bad, yeah. But you're too old to keep up with me, just give up and I'll make your death an art." Deidara demanded, forming a white bird that he leapt on and continued his long range assault.

"Suna shuriken." Gaara spat out, as the thirteen year old launched shuriken made of sand at Deidara who would maneuver the bird away from the shuriken.

Hiashi rushed over to Gaara who was still firing away. "Alright kid, you're up. Either release the Ichibi and destroy that bastard or throw me up on top of his bird and I can attack him from there." Hiashi advised.

"I do not listen to you, I will prove my existence by killing you both." Gaara spat, his teal eyes wide as he summoned up a wave of sand to drown Hiashi. Acting instinctively, Hiashi released a Kaiten that blew Gaara back despite his ultimate defense.

"Stop that now." Hiashi barked out. "He will kill us if we don't team up."

"I will kill you both." Gaara screamed out, summoning a wave of sand and launching it at Hiashi who ducked out of the way.

"It is not my duty to protect you, Jinchuuriki. Your existence is an abomination to life itself. If you continue this I will walk away and leave you to die." Hiashi warned.

"Shut up, you're just like all of them. You will die like all of them." Gaara threatened.

Suddenly a holographic image appeared in the sand reflecting a taller man with spiky hair and eyes with inner rings. "Deidara!" The voice boomed.

Hiashi stepped away from the holographic image while Gaara summoned a wave of sand at it. Before it got close, a force repelled the sand back at Gaara who looked confused.

Deidara landed the bird in front of the image and knelt on one knee. "Yes, Leader-sama."

"Retreat and return to base. There is too much ruckus and only subtleness could help us in this occasion. You will return for the vessel of the Ichibi later." The image ordered.

"Hai. I will take my leave now, Leader-sama." Deidara replied and hopped back onto the bird.

"I will see you later Ichibi-chan, yea. Next time I will paint Sunagakure with my art, consider yourself lucky."

Before Hiashi and Gaara could move the bird leapt into the air, hovered and then flew off.

"What the hell?" Hiashi asked, and turned towards Gaara.

Gaara had a murderous look to him.

"I will prove my existence, mother demands your blood!" Gaara roared out.

IV

Four shinobi sped up as fast as they could through the rain, chakra burning under their feet as they maintained balance atop the lake they were running on, passing the outskirts of Amegakure. It seemed as if the rain would never cease, never let up and swallow the foreign Kumo ninja underneath the waves of water. Leaping into the air, water sprayed their hair and came down their face like sweat.

Landing onto the lake with stealth only experienced shinobi could muster, they took off again in another leap.

Hours later the rain had stopped and they had found a small clearing of trees they could rest and avoid the rain under. Seeing a vast array of trees up ahead, the four shinobi stopped and took cover under some trees. "All these trees, I think we've entered Hi no Kuni." One of the ninjas spoke up. It was a younger, dark skinned male who spoke first.

His three companions looked at him and nodded in agreement.

"It would appear so, captain obvious." A sarcastic, female voice spoke out. It belonged to the second in command and future jounin Samui. She was seventeen, while her other two companions were sixteen, and twin siblings at that. The twins were nearly identical, though one was female and the other was male. Both shared dark skin and dark hair, and bickered constantly much to Samui's irritation.

Samui herself was tall, taller than most females under the Raikage's rule. To compliment her height, she had long, slender legs and large breasts she tried to conceal with no avail. Her stomach was flat and toned, her eyes were honey colored, standing out in comparison to her pale skin and blond hair.

"Did you want to rest?" Samui called out to her taichou.

"Yea, let's stop here. We're just outside Konoha, nothing to fear." The Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi replied. The vessel for the 8 tailed ram was an odd one indeed. The brother of the Raikage was tall and dark skinned like a lot in Kumo, with blonde hair and odd tattoos on his cheeks and carried seven swords.

"Hai." Samui agreed.

"Destruction will come tomorrow, Konoha will weep in sorrow." The Hachibi rhymed, with all seriousness in his voice.

V

"Fuck that hurt!" Naruto growled out, scaring a teary eyed Sasuke.

"You're alive!" Sasuke cried out, standing up and looking at Naruto with unshed tears in his eyes.

"No shit, how did you deduce that one genius? Was it my ability to speak or the added on sarcasm?" Naruto asked, groaning as he stood up. Flexing his muscles he looked down at the spot where the oozing hole should have been. There was none, and the muscles and skin had grown together and regenerated completely thanks to the Kyuubi's influence.

"You died earlier, I killed you, and your heart didn't beat." Sasuke announced and Naruto frowned.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, stretching his limbs.

"Are you alright? God I thought you were dead." Kakashi said, using the shun shin to appear in front of Naruto.

"I don't think I died." Naruto said, cocking his head to the side.

"You did, I even gained the Mangekyou Sharingan, my Mangekyou Sharingan out of it." Sasuke continued, his voice hysterical.

"You got a new Mangekyou, cool let me see." Naruto demanded, walking up to Sasuke and getting in his face, peering at the raven haired Uchiha with a fox like look to him.

"Get out of my face Naruto. I'm not a circus animal." Sasuke grunted, before flaring his chakra and his black eyes shifted from black to red and black with an eight pointed star.

"That is so cool. I wonder what my Mangekyou will look like." Naruto said, poking Sasuke in the forehead, before looking over at Kakashi. "Do you have a genjutsu over your eyes?" he asked.

Kakashi gave him a blank look before realizing what he was talking about. "No, it's not a genjutsu." Kakashi stated, then after seeing Naruto's confused look, he elaborated. "When you let the Kyuubi out, it injected me with your DNA. It told me I could now use the Sharingan in both eyes because I shared your blood and your genes. It said there would be some side effects and I'd notice it but I haven't yet. We need to go back to Konoha soon and I need to research what it's done to me." Kakashi pointed out.

Naruto nodded and felt a pair of arms around his neck. "Thanks for saving me." A familiar voice said and the hair on his neck stood on end.

"Yugito-chan." Naruto asked dumbly, "I thought you died. I watched you die." He mumbled.

"Same could be said about you, Naruto-kun." Yugito said quietly. "You saved me though, if that's what your wondering." She said and then released him and he turned around and got a good look at her.

She had the same honey brown eyes he remembered, the same blonde hair in a braided ponytail. She had the same silky skin as if woven by God himself, smooth to the touch and he distractedly brought a hand to her face to lazily trace her features with his calloused digits. She smiled against his touch and pulled him in for a kiss, pressing her lips against his and he knew without a doubt that he loved Nii Yugito.

Kissing her again, he pulled back as Kakashi placed his hand on his shoulder. "There's time for that later, right now there's two other battles going on." Kakashi stated and pointed out east.

Naruto looked in the direction and saw one battle with sand flying all across the scene, waves of it coming up from the sand floor trying to drown the other opponent. In the other battle, Naruto immediately recognized one of the fighters. It was the Sandaime who was looking weary and aged as he ducked a long sword that was coming from the other man's mouth.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked.

"That's Sandaime-sama taking on Orochimaru, one of the Sannin." Kakashi said gravely.

"Orochimaru, I've heard of the name, also known as the Hebi Sennin, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, he, Tsunade, and Jiraiya formed the group of the Densetsu no Sannin, the Legendary Three Ninja a long time ago. Their skills are equal and on par with each other. Orochimaru was the most infamous of them all for his betrayal of Konoha. As you personally know Naruto, the sannin are hermits who left Konoha to do as they pleased. Only Jiraiya returned, Tsunade is still abroad, and Orochimaru became a nukenin.

"Orchimaru left, upset that he didn't become the Yondaime and was run out of Konoha once he was found to be experimenting on children, killing almost all of them. He is dangerous, an S-class nukenin trying to achieve immortality, so I suggest you tread carefully. But we must protect the Sandaime, so let's go. The faster we get him out of here the better." Kakashi announced.

"Hai, let's go Kaka-sensei. We should split up, Sasuke and Yugito, help out the ally in the first battle, me and Kakashi will handle Orochimaru." Naruto stated.

"Hai!" Sasuke said warily and gave Naruto a small nod. "I'll see you later, taichou. Don't die again." Sasuke gave Naruto and Kakashi a mock salute and Naruto and Yugito held hands for a second before the two of them disappeared to jump into battle.

Kakashi and Naruto took off, flying across the sand and Naruto activated his Sharingan, three tomes spinning in each eye. His black cloak was tattered, so he ripped it off in mid jump and tossed it behind him, leaving him in just a standard black on black shinobi uniform with the dark green chuunin vest.

As they got closer, Naruto got a better look as he analyzed the scene with his Sharingan. The Sandaime looked to be on his last legs and the opponent he was facing gave Naruto the creeps. He was a taller shinobi, with disgusting pale white skin, almost paste-like white. He had long, jet black hair and golden amber eyes with a ring of purple around them. The man looked like a snake.

Orochimaru slashed downwards with the large blade in his mouth and cut the Sandaime across the back of his legs, and Sarutobi fell to the sand on his knees. Orochimaru reared back and was about to decapitate him when Naruto applied chakra and disappeared in a crack, almost immediately summoning himself over to Orochimaru and taking a kunai and blocking the large blade before planting his boot in the nukenin's stomach kicking him backwards.

Orochimaru stumbled back across the sands and Naruto took the time to look at the Sandaime. "Jiji, what are you doing, the creepy snake man's kicking your ass." Naruto commented, pulling the retired Hokage to his feet.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked as he appeared next to them.

"Yes Kakashi-kun, I am fine thanks to Naruto-kun here. I am not as strong as I once was, regrettably." The Sandaime said.

"We're here to help jiji." Naruto offered.

"I know, and I thank you for that. Before we continue this fight, promise me something." The Sandaime said gravely.

"What is it, anything old man." Naruto assured him.

"Forgive me… I've done a lot in my reign as Hokage, things you don't know about yet, but will later. I've always loved you as if you were my own grandson, but for the sake of the village I've allowed things and pardoned those I shouldn't have. No matter what, when you hear those things that will make you hate me, I'll understand, hate the Sandaime Hokage for all it's worth, but forgive me Sarutobi Hiruzen when you do. In my old age there's so much I regret, but if you forgive me, I'll know my death will be worth it. I will die here today in Sunagakure Naruto, it's only time, so forgive me before I do." The Sandaime asked.

"I already have, old man. You had my forgiveness a long time ago." Naruto explained, placing a hand on the old man's shoulder.

"Fufu, isn't this a touching scene. Well, let's make it more touching if you don't mind." Orochimaru called out, his tongue sliding out of his mouth invasively as it wriggled about.

"Leave the old man alone and fight me." Naruto demanded.

Orochimaru suddenly began going through some hand seals and bit his thumb, before wiping the blood onto each finger tip and calling out. "Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei." Orochimaru shrieked and slammed the bloody palm onto the ground.

The resonating blast knocked the three of them backwards. As the struggled to get up, killer intent was leaking into the air, and as they got up they saw Orochimaru with three coffins standing up on end. Inside the coffin was the kanji for Ichi, Ni, Yon separately on each coffin.

Even before they could deduce what that meant, there was the whizzing sound of a kunai being flung in the air. Naruto held out the kunai from earlier in front of him and there was a streak of yellow and suddenly Naruto found himself staring into lifeless, blue eyes, eyes like his once were.

A three pronged kunai was pressed against his and he recognized the man he was about to fight.

He should after all.

It was the Fourth Fire Shadow of Konoha, Namikaze Minato.

His father.


	16. Requiem of a Demon

REQUIEM OF A DEMON:

CHAPTER 16: Requiem of a Demon

AN: Sorry for the wait, hopefully this chapter is worth the wait, and also expect the fight with Yondy to be anti-climatic as it's supposed to be. I have no idea when I'm going to start the sequel so don't expect it soon and I'm not going to release it until I get at least five chapters done so I can push them out periodically without the wait. Without further due… here's the last chapter of Requiem of a Demon and thanks to all of my faithful readers who've been with me since day one. It means a lot to me.

I

"Naruto." Minato whispered, staring down at Naruto with lifeless blue eyes. His three pronged kunai was bearing down on Naruto, who was using a kunai to try and push back but found it harder than he thought. Straining his muscles, he pushed back even harder to gain leverage but the Yondaime's foot smashed into his stomach, bowling him right over and sending him crashing to the sand. Before he could even move, there was a flash of yellow and he barely had the time to register it before the Yondaime Hokage kicked him hard across the ribs, sending him sprawling across the sands.

Angered by how fast the Fourth Hokage was, Naruto's eyes spun faster, the three commas in his eyes looking more shuriken like and deadly._ You have to anticipate his movements…see them Sharingan…he thought to himself._

Moving back a step, he hurled two shuriken at him only to watch as the Yondaime faded from existence and used his space/time ninjutsu to appear in front of him. Bringing his arms in front of him, he blocked the incoming punch, using his arms to take the brunt of the blow. Wincing slightly, he leapt up in the air to knee his dead father in the face only to have the Yondaime sidestep it, and kick him hard across the mouth.

Fallen backwards once again, the fifteen year old boy wiped the blood of his bruised lip.

"You're weak, much weaker than I anticipated." Namikaze Minato called out cruelly, sneering slightly. "You are not fit to be called my son." Minato jeered out and tears almost sprung to Naruto's eyes.

Naruto stood up to his feet and stared at the father he'd never known. "Look at you Minato, you're Orochimaru's puppet… and you're right, I'm not your son." Naruto stated. "I have no father." Naruto added quietly.

Minato's lifeless blue eyes narrowed. "What did you say?" Minato asked coldly, his eyes frozen ice chips.

Naruto ignored him. "You're weak, much weaker than I anticipated." Naruto called out, repeating what his father said to him. "I should be dead by now." Naruto informed him.

"Show me the depths of your power, _son_." Minato demanded.

Naruto stood there before his hands formed the ram seal and he drew chakra from his inner core, before exploding with blue white chakra, molding around him like an aura, completely free from the Kyuubi's taint. Naruto's Sharingan continued to spin madly, before coming to a halt in a three bladed shuriken Mangekyou state. "I'm better than you." Naruto informed him coldly.

Minato shook his head. "How can you kill what you can't see?" Minato asked.

Minato hurled a three pronged kunai at him and Naruto returned the volley with one of his kunai. "Kage Shuriken Bunshin no jutsu." Naruto called out and the kunai replicated into a hundred. Before the three pronged kunai could reach Naruto, he vanished and appeared above Minato, landing in front of him.

The Fourth Hokage's eyes widened. Throwing a punch at Naruto, the chuunin blocked it and lightning chakra rushed to his arm. "Rairyuuken." Naruto shouted, before uppercutting the Fourth Hokage with a fistful of lightning, sending him flying up high.

The long dead Hokage crashed into the sand and got up a few seconds later laughing. "You little bastard, you stole some of my jutsu. You obviously know the Hiraishin, and you even changed up my Shoryuuken to add lightning chakra, not bad, little ningen." The Hokage called out, sneering slightly.

"That was nothing, and you haven't seen my Hiraishin. It took a while to develop but I've surpassed you on a whole new level, otousan." Naruto replied.

"Show me the depth of your power." Minato shot back, and there was a blaze of red chakra exploded from the young ex-Hokage's pores. It looked a lot similar to the Kyuubi's cloak.

_He almost looks like me when I use the Kyuubi's chakra…_Naruto noted mentally, and used his Sharingan to peer in closer. Minato crouched low on the sand as a red bubble of chakra began protruding from his rear, followed by another tail.

_That is the Fox's Cloak…what the hell?_

Minato's nails extended and sharpened and his eyes blurred from lifeless blue to menacing red with black slits. Fangs bared, he looked ready to rip out Naruto's throat. There was another two tails emerging from it and Naruto waited in expectation for Minato to start looking like a mini-Kyuubi like he did but it never happened.

As he stood there in shock, finally nine bubble like tails were protruding and Minato stood back on his feet. Suddenly the tails dissipated and the cloak vanished and standing there in front of Naruto was someone that didn't look like his father. This thing was utterly evil.

Menacing red eyes and spiked blond hair with red tips. A cruel smirk marred his handsome features and Naruto watched as the wound he left earlier from the Rairyuuken disappeared as if never there. "What are you?" Naruto dared himself to ask.

"I am what I am." It spoke cryptically.

"What does that even mean?" Naruto asked, surveying the area.

"Twelve years ago, I sealed the Kyuubi into a child, my child to be exact, except in order for the process of jinchuuriki to be successful, the Kyuubi, I, had to be split into two halves. The yang chakra and the yin chakra." It explained.

"I don't get it." Naruto stated warily.

"The yin chakra is sealed away into you. It encompasses the Kyuubi's chakra, his power, my massive hate. The yang chakra was sealed away into me, that was the other half of the Kyuubi's chakra. The Kyuubi's power is infinite, immeasurable, even when divided in two. Your body was much too young to handle the full strength of it, the darkest part of the Kyuubi and sealed it into myself. I am the Kyuubi, I am Namikaze Minato." It claimed.

"There's no way that's possible." Naruto shot back.

"It is puny ningen. I am fused inside this body, and my anger is so strong and so dark, even your pathetic father the Yondaime wasn't able to overcome it. But I was not able to overcome him, even now I have only managed to slow down the fatherly love he has for you. I hate you, and he loves you. Why? You're a pathetic monkey, a useless ningen. You are a gnat in my eyes, a waste of life, most of you bite the dust before seventy. Why do you exist? Why do you insist on defying me puny ninja." Minato roared.

Naruto finally understood.

"I see, you've also made him weak. I might be a puny ningen in the face of something as old and powerful as you but the time has come. I hated my father for the better part of fifteen years, never truly understanding why he sealed the Kyuubi in me and I still don't. But he did it to protect Konoha, and resorted to being stuck with you to save me. I will honor his sacrifice, I will not let you win." Naruto called out angrily. Looking the red eyed humanoid in the eye, Naruto added. "Otousan, I forgive you. Forgive me."

"YOU WILL NOT BEAT ME!" Minato roared.

Naruto ran through a set of hand seals faster than he could blink.

It sounded like an array of birds screeched as lightning chakra built in his hand and he charged forward, disappearing in a flash and reappearing in front of the fused Hokage and he rammed his fist through his chest. As he impaled his father, there was a spray of dirt that blinded him for a second.

He pulled his hand out and it was covered in mud. "What the fuck?"

Minato smiled as the gaping wound in his chest began to close itself. "It'll take a lot more than that to hurt me." He stated calmly, a smirk on his face.

"Have it your way." Naruto replied, backing away and raising a hand into the air.

"What the hell are you doing?" Minato demanded.

"What you never were able to finish father." Naruto said and his eyes began showing the tell tale sign of yokai influence as a black slit appeared in his eyes with the three tomes spinning around it. Summoning up his chakra a Rasengan appeared in his hand, a swirling mass of energy forming a sphere before turning into a spinning blue and white ball of doom. Concentrating more wind chakra four shuriken like blades appeared emitting a high pitched whine as the disks spun madly until it began to blur.

"What the hell?"

"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto bellowed and charged, holding the spinning bladed attack in front of him as he attempted to slam it into the Yondaime.

The fused Hokage looked at it in horror and there was a golden flash and he dissipated instantaneously before Naruto could destroy him. Naruto released the attack and before he could move a kunai was placed at his throat. "Gotcha." Minato uttered calmly.

"Is that so?" Naruto replied, disappearing as quickly as the Hokage had.

Reappearing a few feet away from the Hokage in a crackle of lightning, he smirked seeing the Yondaime's frustrated face. "How did you do that, disappear like that?"

"I swore I'd master your infamous Hiraishin jutsu, and I couldn't, I suck at seals, don't really have the time to sit and draw kanji all day. So I made a variation, and that became the true lightning god jutsu. I am the lightning god." Naruto declared.

"I don't get it." Minato replied.

"Your jutsu requires a kunai or a tag of some sort already laid out to summon yourself to that spot. That is its weakness that as long as you see the kunai coming, you can successfully avoid it. You're fast, inhumanely so, it's no wonder you killed all those Iwa ninja and yes you can summon yourself instantaneously to a spot using the space/time continuum but my Hiraishin is very different." Naruto spoke.

"How so?" Minato asked.

"I don't need kunai, tags, or seals." Naruto spoke, and tossed his black cloak to the side and pulled up his black shirt revealing the Reaper Death seal that sealed the Kyuubi away. Above that seal was another one, with a circle and four lines of kanji inside them.

"What is that?" Minato replied.

"It's an intricate seal that Kakashi did for me with some help from Jiraiya. This seal is the foundation for the new Hiraishin. I am a lightning user, with the ability to manipulate large amounts of elemental chakra. While I don't really understand the seal work and all, what this allows me to do is summon myself instantaneously through the use of lightning chakra. Wherever the chakra is dispersed, I can safely travel at the speed of light itself. Of course it only works when I can summon the lightning chakra which takes a lot of focus and precision but since I use so many lightning jutsus, wherever any of that energy disperses, I can follow it." Naruto explained smugly.

"Hence why you called it the true lightning god jutsu?" Minato questioned, his brows furrowed.

"Yes, but my speed alone rivals yours so there's no real reason to use it often." Naruto replied.

"You truly do not know who the Yondaime Hokage was." Minato replied laughing.

Naruto winced.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"You're good, nowhere near as good as I am. I am a god, I may not control space and time like Uchiha Madara, but time is my domain. I am not rivaled by any mere ningen, not even my own flesh and blood. I'm faster than time itself." Minato replied.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and suddenly there was a bright sphere of swirling energy rammed into his stomach, and the Yondaime/Kyuubi humanoid was suddenly in front of him, yet still a few feet away at the same time.

"Fuck!" Naruto screamed and the Rasengan grinded into him and blood shot everywhere as his stomach was torn a shred.

He was doomed.

II

Kakashi was tired.

Chasing down Orochimaru to then start battling the Shodai and Nidai Hokage was no easy task. While his was an elite jounin and probably Kage level, but taking on the original Shodai and Nidai was a kick to the nuts. Sure his two year stint in the Chamber of Time and Requirement had allowed him to train and become more powerful, he was probably on the same level as Itachi.

While the Konoha nuke nin had the Mangekyou Sharingan, Kakashi definitely had a few tricks up his sleeve. Then again, he was probably the most fit to fight the two Kages. Senju Hashirama was a wood element user, and Kakashi was pretty good with katon jutsus as well as suiton should the Shodaime use katon jutsus. Senju Tobirama had just suiton jutsus as his lightning sword had been stolen from him and Kakashi like Naruto excelled in raiton jutsus.

Watching the Sandaime wearily from the corner of his eyes it had not taken long to dissimilate Orochimaru's jutsu.

It was hard but Kakashi wasn't the Copy Nin for nothing. Using his Sharingan, he analyzed the Shodai and Nidai and realized exactly how they needed to defeat them. Of course this was his assumption but to him fighting the Shodaime and Nidaime wasn't as much of a difficulty as he expected. It was time and energy consuming but not overtly physically difficult. The Sandaime was raging war against Orochimaru, and fairing pretty well.

But this was Orochimaru again, so it would be safe to assume that summoning up three Hokage's was pretty costly to his charka.

The Shodai and Nidai should have been too strong for a jounin, albeit powerful one like himself but it seemed as if they're chakra was limited. It appeared as if it was limited to Orochimaru himself and while Orochimaru had a fairly giant amount of chakra, fighting while feeding three Hokage's chakra had to be taxing. Unless the jutsu wasn't fed by Orochimaru's chakra, but rather it was preset at a certain value. The Edo Tensei pulled a soul from death and is forcibly shoved into a faux body created by a human sacrifice. Then a seal shiki was placed into the head of the summoned ninja to control it, but somehow it manages to keep the ninja's personality and kekkei genkai as well as other traits. It's like one summoned the actual person, but there had to be a limit to the chakra it consumed, Kakashi mused.

Normally Kakashi wouldn't stand a chance in hell against the Shodai and Nidaime but because there was a cap to their power, he might be able to pull it off, supposing he had the chakra and grit for it. But honestly, he was more worried about the Sandaime. Fighting Orochimaru is never an easy task, let alone when you're old and far from the Kami no Shinobi feared throughout the five Great nations.

Kakashi had to win.

There was no other option.

III

Sasuke and Yugito rushed forwards towards Gaara with fluidity at that speed that Gaara and Hiashi Hyuuga were caught unaware when Sasuke burst forward and kicked Gaara clean in the face before his sand could rise to protect him. Gaara was blown backwards from the force of the kick and was sent stumbling across the sand.

"What's the status?" Sasuke stated, swiveling his eyes towards Hiashi.

"He is Gaara, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki." Hiashi replied.

"So he's like Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, his demon allows him to summon sand subconsciously for defense and offense. It's a nearly perfect defense." Hiashi stated, his Byakugan still fixed on the now rising Gaara.

"What's the status on the other teams?" Sasuke asked.

"Currently Naruto-san is fighting… no, it cannot be." Hiashi said, gasping.

"What's wrong?" Yugito asked her eyes steely, her jaw hardened.

"It seems like Orochimaru used a forbidden kinjutsu called Edo Tensei to summon up the three dead Hokage's. Kakashi and the Sandaime are fighting off Orochimaru, the Shodaime, and the Nidaime. Naruto is fighting the Yondaime, but it appears they are at a standstill." Hiashi informed them.

"That bastard Orochimaru went that far? Where's the backup squad?" Sasuke asked coolly.

"They are engaged in a fight against a silver haired medic nin and from the looks and he's giving them quite the hard time."

"Sasuke, we'll split from here, I'll handle the Ichibi and you go help out Kakashi. Hiashi if you can, provide some more help to the backup team." Yugito ordered, and Hiashi and Sasuke nodded. Hiashi didn't obey out of rank because he was an elite jounin of Konoha and outranked her but she was a jinchuuriki, and how better than to have her fight another Jinchuuriki vice an aging Hyuuga like himself?

IV

Kirabi halted to a stop, holding up a closed fist signaling his squad to the same. In front of him was the Godaime Hokage, Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin, flanked by a group of jounins. "Dammit." He cursed under his breath, preparing for the inevitable fight.

"Stop in your tracks, I am the legendary Jiraiya, the Godaime Hokage. One more step and I will kill you." Jiraiya threatened, a steely gaze on his face.

"We're just here to talk." Kirabi replied, a smirk on his face.

"I highly doubt that, tread carefully Kumo ninja. I could care less if you are the Raikage's brother B or that you're Kumo's last jinchuuriki." Jiraiya stated, standing tall but warily.

"We want Yugito back, and we're willing to pay whatever price we have to for her." Kirabi responded.

"Absolutely not. You violated the Shodai's treaty and the price you'll pay is knowing that Yugito is in our hands now." Jiraiya replied harshly.

"I'll have to ask that you reconsider Hokage-sama..." Kirabi said slowly.

"The answer is final."

"Are you really ready to rage war against us over one Jinchuuriki, and sever the treaty we signed long ago?" Kirabi asked, his hand itching to reach for one of his swords.

"No, but Konoha is ready to cut some Kumo heads off if you threaten war against us over one Jinchuuriki. Let me make something clear for you, I am not the Sandaime, I am not patient, nor calm, nor forgiving. You already broke the treaty once and attacked us before to get a set of Hyuuga's eyes, and last time an innocent man died to keep peace. This time, I will not allow that to happen. Tell your Raikage that I'm not the one he wants to test, the next time I catch Kumo shinobi on Konoha territory without official papers, we will not be kind. I am not giving you Yugito, now get the fuck out of my land." Jiraiya snapped, his face marred by a snarl.

Kirabi looked at him calmly, before letting out a small smile. "You will regret this Hokage-sama." Turning around to face his subordinates, he motioned for them to go and they took back off into the trees.

Jiraiya looked at the jounin. "Tail them, make sure they leave, should they be aggressive, give me the signal." Jiraiya ordered.

The jounin disappeared in a flash and took off after them.

V

Minato was stood up, four tails of demonic yokai swirling behind him. He was standing there, basking in his victory of his arrogant son. He had defeated him easily, the stupid boy wasn't even worth his genetics. A glimmer caught his gaze and his eyes leveled on his son again as he watched Naruto's body shimmer and then disappear.

"You didn't think it'd be that easy father?" Naruto called out.

Minato turned around and saw Naruto standing there harmless. "How?" he growled out angrily.

Naruto pointed to his blood red eyes. "This is how… a good majority of this battle you've been under a genjutsu." Naruto stated.

"But I have the Kyuubi in me and I'm the Yondaime Hokage, you cannot ensnare in a genjutsu, the Kyuubi's chakra would cancel it out, and I know you weren't using the Mangekyou Sharingan." Minato stated.

"No, I wasn't. It's more about these particular eyes…" Naruto said, sliding back into fighting stance. "You see, Uchiha Itachi gave me a certain pair of eyes, eyes that belonged to Uchiha Shishui. His prowess in genjutsu was ridiculous. This whole time you thought we were fighting I've had you ensnared in a genjutsu making you think we were fighting and letting you expend away your chakra. The best part of all of this, is that I'm just getting started." Naruto stated, weaving a set of hand seals.

"So the whole lightning god jutsu was bullshit?" Minato asked.

"Guilty to an extent… no, I'm not good enough to actually separate lightning chakra and travel through it, but I did master your Hiraishin." Naruto replied.

"Did you now?" Minato asked.

Naruto smirked and bit his thumb, wiping the blood across a seal that was drawn on his arm. There was a burst of smoke and out came a bunch of tri-pronged kunai. Naruto launched the kunai at Minato and disappeared in a flash of yellow, reappearing in front of him. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Naruto roared, blowing out a massive fireball directly at the dead Hokage.

Minato disappeared before it could burn him, and as he reappeared his eyes widened in horror. In Naruto's hand was a shrieking ball of wind, a smaller version of his Rasenshuriken. "Fuuton: Rasengan!" Naruto bellowed, ramming the sphere of violent wind chakra into Minato.

Minato roared in pain, the sphere crashing into his stomach, needles of chakra going through his pores, his very cells. How had he caught him, he had used his Hiraishin to avoid the fireball and as he jumped time and space Naruto had appeared and slammed the Rasengan into him. The force of it was enough to blow him backwards and crashing into the sands.

"You see I'm strong, much stronger than you give me credit for. We knew Orochimaru had something up his sleeve, so for two years I trained everyday and nothing but in preparation. I studied jutsus of every element, developed my own, studied fuinjutsu and came up with my own seals. Jiraiya gave me the blueprint to your Hiraishin and I developed it further, becoming that much better with it. On top of that I have the Sharingan damn near developed to its fullest.

"You're probably wondering how I caught you…" Naruto was interrupted as the Hokage stood up and disappeared in a flash, reappearing and kicking him across the chin and knocking him back a few feet.

"Kid, you're too arrogant and you talk too much." Minato replied, lowering his right hand to the wound and watching in satisfaction as red chakra came out and healed it instantly.

"Am I?" Naruto reappeared over the Hokage's head and brought his fist down crashing down on his skull. The Hokage shrugged off the blow and jumped away from him, blowing up sand as he came down.

"You might be strong…but I'm stronger." Minato called out.

Naruto reached down deep inside and his chakra flared up, swirling around him in a blueish aura. His hair spiked outwards as electricity surrounded him. "Let's test that theory." Naruto boasted, reappearing before the Yondaime once again and ramming his hand through the Hokage's chest with a Chidori. Blood and bones bursted out of the Hokage's back, and Naruto tossed him into the air and then threw a kunai above him, disappearing in a flash.

"Twin Chidori!" Naruto cried out, appearing above the Hokage. Minato's eyes widened and Naruto rammed the second Chidori through his face. The Yondaime's face exploded in a grisly shower of blood, bone, muscle, and brain fragments landing on the sand with a resounding thump.

Naruto stood up, gasping for air. He had exhausted a good bit of chakra in this fight, between the massive genjutsu that he had placed over the Hokage to the actual physical fight itself. He had enough to probably finish the fight, but he would have to end it soon.

"You didn't think it'd be that easy…did you?" a voice interrupted his thoughts.

Looking over at his fused father, his eyes widen. Minato stood up, muscles regrouping on his face as flesh began to cover over the muscle and his face was regenerated. "What the fuck?" Naruto growled out in surprise.

"You arrogant monkey..." Minato snapped, his face turning into a snarl. "Do you think you can best me, I am the best of your father, and the best of the Kyuubi in one human body and you think some teenage boy who just left puberty can defeat ME!" Minato roared, the powerful chakra of the Kyuubi surging forth again, enveloping him in a thick, dark red shroud.

"Give me your best shot." Naruto called out confidently, holding out his right hand. Minato did the same. They say when two powerful warriors collide in the heat of battle, they can read each other's thoughts. The two certainly knew that it was going to come down to this final attack. Naruto didn't have enough for his Rasenshuriken and certainly not enough for the Raiton: Keiji no Rasengan, but he had one last card up his sleeve. Digging deep into his inner self, he reached the cage that held the Kyuubi and began siphoning chakra, not enough to overwhelm him and put him in the state he was in earlier, but enough to charge up this last attack.

Minato began flaring up his chakra and swirls of red lights began to form on his outstretched hand. The red chakra formed a sphere and began to rotate as more and more demonic chakra filled it up until it was large enough to bigger than his own body.

Naruto smirked, summoning up chakra to his own hand, but instead of red lights, it was a dark blue, a combination of Naruto and the Kyuubi's chakra completed mixed into an almost purple tone. Placing all his chakra into the last attack, it grew to massive sphere, with chakra spinning violently on the inside of the sphere, rotating internally in all directions.

"Rasengan!" Minato Namikaze roared, flying towards his child with an inconceivable speed that made him the famous Kiroi Senko.

"Cho Odama Rasengan!" Naruto bellowed, rushing towards the Hokage.

It seemed like time had almost froze, the two combatants in mid air, gargantuan spheres of chakra spinning uncontrollably in their hands. Red eyes with black slits stared into the angry shurikens buried into the sea of red, fangs and teeth bared. Blonde locks of hair spiked in every which way.

Minato moved faster than Naruto did and he was about to unleash his attack when he felt the most pain he ever felt in his life.

He screamed.

Naruto slammed the Cho Odama Rasengan into the dead Yondaime and watched as it tore into him, blood spraying everywhere.

"How?" Minato asked weakly as he was blown away from the sheer destructive force.

"I added a tag on you earlier, I don't need the kunai to use the Hiraishin, just as you were about to unleash your attack, I moved in when you let your guard up and fucked you up." Naruto said cockily.

"You insignificant child…" Minato cried out weakly, falling backwards.

"I'm not a child." Naruto replied.

"Yes, you are…" Minato responded, bursting into smoke.

_Kage Bunshin…_ Naruto thought.

Minato appeared in front of him, fingers glowing with kanji inscribed on each digit. Minato slammed his fingers into Naruto's stomach where the seal lay dormant at.

Naruto screamed in pain and he could feel something being ripped out of him. He screamed harder than he ever had in his life. The pain was blinding, suffocating, like every cell in his body was lit with fire.

Looking at his father, he saw him start to disintegrate. "I'm sorry Naruto, I failed you." The Yondaime exclaimed, then turned to ash.

"I'm free." A voice whispered and Naruto turned his head and gasped at the sight.

It was him.

But not.

There was a figure standing in front of him that looked exactly just like he did, even wearing the same outfit with a few differences. Instead of blonde hair, it was orange red in color. Instead of neon green eyes, they were malevolent red with narrow black slits. Whiskers marred the face of the person in front of him, just like the ones he had.

"Who are you?" Naruto managed to say weakly.

"**I am you…but I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, ruler of this world, and I am the last person in this world you want to piss off, and I am very….very…very pissed off at you Naruto. So I will spare you today, but I will kill all your friends, and I'm going to kill Yugito, Kakashi, the Sandaime and there's not one fucking thing you can do to stop me boy."**

"No, please don't hurt them." Naruto begged, trying to stand up on his feet.

"**I told you not to piss me off, that I would be free from that cage one day, and when I did come out I was going to make your life hell. You will know pain, you will know suffering, and you will know death by the time I'm done with you Naruto-chan." **Kyuubi said, a sinister smile on his face.

Giving Naruto a chop on the neck, he watched in satisfaction as the boy passed out.

"**I'm free…. I'M FREE!" **Kyuubi roared in joy.

VI

Orochimaru was stranded… Kabuto was nowhere to be found, probably in the middle of his own battle against the infuriating Konoha ninja. At first he had been holding his own, while he was not as youthful as he once had been, his immortality jutsu had rejuvenated him and the aging Kami no Shinobi Sarutobi Hiruzen had been no easy task.

But ultimately he knew he could defeat him.

Then Sharingan no Kakashi had shown up, evening out the fight as he took on the Shodaime and Nidaime, distracting them long enough for the Sandaime to wound Orochimaru several times. Kakashi was the ultimate ninja, he had mastered several elements and used them effectively against the two Hokage.

Then Uchiha Sasuke had showed up and now the fight was all but over. Orochimaru was tired, several wounded, and running low on chakra. The Edo Tensei resurrection jutsu drained him as well as the fight. Sasuke had used his Amaterasu and burned the Hokage's until they were nothing more than ash and all three combatants had pressed on Orochimaru.

The Sandaime slid into offensive stance, contemplating his next couple moves. He knew the only way he could take out Orochimaru was to use the Reaper Death Seal and seal him away, but the price was steep, he would have to offer up his own soul to the reaper. But he couldn't be afraid, he was an old man and he had lived a long, fulfilling life. It was time to pass down the Will of Fire to the younger generation. He had already passed down the mantle of Hokage to his student Jiraiya who was the most capable out of all of his students, and his favored one after Orochimaru had betrayed him.

Tsunade was nowhere to be found, hiding out and putting herself into debt everywhere she went.

Before any of them could move, there was a rush of sand, billowing all around them and getting in there face and there stood a figure dressed up like Naruto was earlier. It looked identical to him only different. Instead of Naruto's blonde, spiky locks the person had orange red hair, with feral red eyes with narrow slits.

"Who are you?" the Sandaime managed to ask.

"**Don't you recognize me old friend? I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, ruler of this earth, strongest of all the bijuu." **Kyuubi spoke levelly.

"How did you get out?" Kakashi asked, reaching down for his kunai.

"**Orochimaru here resurrected the Yondaime Hokage who had sealed my yang chakra into him. My consciousness managed to overpower him in battle and I used the Yondaime's fuinjutsu to open the seal to Naruto's seal as Naruto destroyed Minato's body. The yang chakra was released and I was out of my cage and managed to tear out and hang onto the yang chakra, but it came at a price. I had to leave the yin chakra inside Naruto, but I managed to become free again in this form. I kind of like it…**" Kyuubi said, flexing his muscles.

"It can't be….where's Naruto?" Sasuke demanded, activating his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"**I'm so scared Sasuke… I like those eyes, eyes almost as hateful as your founder Uchiha Madara. Naruto is alive for now, but I will kill him, slowly and painfully for his arrogance and for not respecting me as he should have. The best part of it all, is that I'm an exact duplicate of Naruto, all his techniques are stored here…**" Kyuubi pointed at his skull. "**All that knowledge, down to his very genetics. See your Sharingan doesn't scare me Sasuke… I have my own**." Kyuubi continued and flared up his chakra and his eyes adopted the look of the famed kekkei genkai, looking almost exactly like the regular Sharingan with slits going down the middle.

"What do you want?" Kakashi demanded, body tense and ready to move.

"**I want to kill you all and then I'm going to take over the world. I'm going to destroy the Akatsuki, and become the Kage of all five nations. Millions will die, Daimyos will be slaughtered but there will be peace and the world will bow down to me, and only me. Naruto will die and I will form my own army of jinchuuriki to use as weapons and nothing and no one can stop me. All of you are insignificant, your life is meaningless, you have no purpose, no reason to exist in this prison you call life, but I will give you one… you will all serve me. You will worship me, love me, and I will be your god." **

"That sounds crazy…" Sasuke deadpanned.

The Kyuubi merely smirked.

Kakashi moved, blurring through his shunshin and appearing in front of Kyuubi, lightning howling in his hand. The Kyuubi didn't move and his arm suddenly whipped out and grabbed Kakashi's wrist. "**This is how you thank me for the gift I gave you, puny little ningen?**" Kyuubi asked, snapping Kakashi's wrist effortlessly. Kakashi cried out in pain and he stared into the cold, calculating Sharingan of the Kyuubi.

Sasuke reacted and leaped in the air, landing a swift kick across the Kyuubi's face.

The Kyuubi didn't even flinch, and shrugged the blow off as if it were nothing. Kicking Kakashi in his chest and knocking him backwards, he swung under Sasuke's next kick and cut Sasuke with an uppercut. "**Rairyuuken!**" Lightning blasted out of the Kyuubi's fist and blood sprayed everywhere as Sasuke's mouth busted open and his skin peeled on his face from the sheer current of electricity.

Before Orochimaru could even move, the Kyuubi advanced upon him. One hand shot out and grabbed Orochimaru by his throat. Squeezing tightly, he cut off all circulation from Orochimaru's body. "**I should thank you for unknowingly giving me the opportunity to come back. Do not think for one second I have forgotten your slights against me Orochimaru, I didn't… I'm going to kill you, but for setting me free, I'll make it painless and fast.**" Kyuubi boasted, squeezing even harder around Orochimaru's throat.

Rearing his head back, lights of white and black chakra began to amass in his mouth, forming small bubbles of chakra. Orochimaru tried to move but it was to no avail, the Kyuubi was not letting him go. Noticing his struggles, the Kyuubi grabbed his right arm using his free hand and ripped it clean off, blood and skin spraying everywhere. Grabbing his left one, he tore that clean off as well, blood landing on his face and dripping down his cheeks.

Orochimaru tried to scream but all that came out was a bubbly gurgle.

Kyuubi had ripped his arms clean off to prevent him from using any substitution jutsus to get away from the next attack.

Releasing Orochimaru, he brought his head forth and unleashed a Tail Beast Bomb, a massive surge of chakra flooded from his mouth, encompassing Orochimaru entirely drowning out his screams.

Orochimaru was dead.

Turning around to face the Konoha ninja, the Kyuubi spoke with a sinister smile. "**Consider yourselves lucky. I'm going to let you live for now, the previous fight took a lot of energy out of me, but I will come back and I will destroy you all. Live life like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't going to be one and that I can promise you." **

Sasuke and Kakashi were still reeling from the Kyuubi's previous attacks. Sarutobi stepped forward. "Do you honestly think we're going to let you walk away alive?" he said, sliding into his stance and pulling out his bo staff.

"**I was hoping you'd say that."** The Kyuubi replied, disappearing in a flash of red and black and appearing behind the Sandaime Hokage.

Before Sarutobi Hiruzen could even turn around the Kyuubi snapped his neck, letting his body fall to the ground, his body an empty carcass, motionless and without life.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he let out a snarl. "You bastard." Trying to get up, face still raw in certain areas, he was about to attack until Kakashi grabbed his arm.

"Stop, live to fight another day. He will kill us, train, become stronger and hope that when he comes back, you'll be strong enough then." Kakashi ordered, a lone tear dripping down his left eye. "Losing the Sandaime is hard enough, do you want Naruto to lose you too?"

"**Good boy, Kakashi. Sasuke it was good seeing you, until next time. Ja ne!" **the Kyuubi said jovially, before walking away from them.

Sasuke fell to his knees and cradled the fallen Hokage's head to his chest. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. Even after this two years, we still weren't strong enough, I'm never strong enough…"

Kakashi placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. "Sasuke this is not your burden to carry. We trained for two long years preparing for the Akatsuki, we had no idea we were going to come up against the Kyuubi, how could we have known, and two years would never be enough to prepare for something like that… I don't think you can prepare for a beast like that. Trust me I would love to kill him and avenge my sensei, but I'm not strong enough to hurt the Kyuubi, let alone kill it." Kakashi said as calmly as possible.

His mind was in turmoil. He hadn't been able to save the Sandaime, he hadn't been able to protect Naruto, and the seal was broken, ripped open by none other than a dead Minato Namikaze himself. The Kyuubi had been set free and had left half his power still inside Naruto, but without the malevolent consciousness haunting him and taunting him behind the seal.

What did that even mean for Naruto?

Or the Akatsuki?

VII

In the lands formerly known as Whirlpool Country, many had been laid to rest. It was the site of a massive burial ground, of Uzukagure shinobi who had died, slain by enemy shinobi. But it wasn't just the burial site for Uzukagure ninja. In the middle of the site were two graves, which officially didn't exist. It was the site where they had buried the Yondaime and his wife after the Kyuubi had cost them both their lives. Minato had requested to be buried there with his wife, it was her homeland, and it was where he met her at.

To the people of Konoha, Minato was buried with the rest of the Hokage's in Hokage Mountain as normal procedures dictated. The Shodaime and the Nidaime were buried there. Sarutobi would be buried there as well. But Jiraiya had brought his student's body here to the land of Whirlpool Country to rest in peace.

Lightning crackled and struck the Yondaime's grave.

"**THE DEAL HAS BEEN BROKEN."**

A hand burst through the grave.

VIII

_Two Weeks Later_

_Konohagakure Hospital_

Naruto woke up.

Eyes bleary from all the sunlight streaming through the room, he shut them quickly and yawned loudly. He felt so tired…

"You're awake." A soft, feminine voice spoke.

He instantly recognized it.

"Yugito." Naruto called out warily.

Opening his eyes again, he spotted her sitting in a chair, hands folded on her lap. She got up and walked over to him, standing next to his bed. "Hey baby." She replied, bending low to kiss him on the forehead softly.

"What happened?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"You've been in a coma for two weeks. I didn't think you were going to get up, you had me scared." Yugito admitted, a sad look on her face. "What do you remember?" she asked.

"Everything. I remember fighting my dad, but he wasn't at the same time. He was fused with the half of the Kyuubi's chakra he took when died. He opened the seal and died and Kyuubi came out and told me he was going to kill all of you and then I blacked out." Naruto said.

Yugito knew she was going to have to be the bearer of bad news. Taking a deep breath, she reached over and clasped one of his hands into hers. "After you blacked out, Kakashi and Sasuke took out the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages and were about to defeat Orochimaru when the Kyuubi showed up. He explained to them how he got out and how he was a clone of you to an extent and he killed Orochimaru easily. He offered to spare the Sandaime, Sasuke, and Kakashi but the Sandaime was going to attack and the Kyuubi snapped his neck and killed him."

Naruto gasped, and tears sprung to his eyes. "He what?" he replied, choking back a sob. Shaking with rage, his atrophied muscles wouldn't let him stand up. "Not the Sandaime, please…" he sobbed out and she hugged him and let him cry onto her chest.

"I'm so sorry Naruto, I was fighting Gaara and couldn't make it in time. I had just defeated him and by the time I got there it was too late." She said sadly, tears falling down her cheeks.

"It's not your fault, it's mine." Naruto croaked out, his voice heavy with guilt.

"It's not your fault Naruto." Yugito pleaded and Naruto pulled away from her embrace, a self deprecating look on his face.

"It is. I got cocky in the fight against the Yondaime. My arrogance cost the Sandaime's life. If I had never dropped my guard, the Kyuubi would still have been sealed. I'm going to kill him… if it's the last thing I do, I swear to Kami I'm going to kill the Kyuubi… for good." Naruto swore.

"Naruto you can't blame yourself, and you can't shoulder that burden alone. You fought bravely against your father, the Yellow Flash and you won, there was no way you could have known that this would happen." Yugito replied.

"Naruto, you're awake, thank God." Jiraiya called out walking into the room.

"Godaime-sama." Naruto responded, his voice sounding haunted.

"Naruto, don't be so hard on yourself over the Sandaime. He walked into Sunagakure knowing he was going to die, it was in his plans to do so, to die for you. Don't make his sacrifice in vain." Jiraiya said gently.

"It won't. You're going to train me and one day I will kill the Kyuubi, that's the promise of a lifetime." Naruto vowed.

"Good to hear. We managed to intercept the Kumo team and send them back with their tails tucked between their legs, so all in all this double mission was a success. Your team stopped the Akatsuki, and we stopped Kumo from entering Konoha." Jiraiya replied.

"Has anything important happened in the last two weeks since I've been gone?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, we have discovered a new enemy within Konoha's walls. One that must be stopped, but carefully because it is so deep rooted within our own government that we cannot outright declare war. Keep your head on a swivel Naruto, you're one of their targets. Especially now…"

"Especially now?" Naruto echoed.

"I might have admitted to the populace that you are the son of the Yondaime. The people of Konoha see the wrongs of their ways, in how they treated you and now they see you as a hero, at least most of them do. But this enemy is trying to bloody your name and set you up for failure, be careful Naruto. Stop by and see me when you get out." Jiraiya ordered and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto had a somber look, contemplating everything he was just told. The people knew of his heritage now and now they wanted to see him as a hero, but only because of Minato's blood going through his veins. He was upset, visibly so. But he didn't have time to waste on whether he was popular or not within Konoha, frankly he didn't care.

They hadn't given a fuck when it mattered, so he wasn't going to give a fuck now.

There was an enemy within Konoha's walls, the Kyuubi was loose, and the Akatsuki was still out there.

He had his work cut out for him.

Closing his eyes, he felt Yugito's lips graze his. He inhaled her scent, relished the taste of her mouth as he deepened the kiss, his arms clutched at her and brought her into his bed. "I love you." He said, pulling away from her for a second.

"I love you too." She replied with a smile.

"Forever?" Naruto asked, a nervous look on his face.

Yugito kissed him on the lips again.

"Forever."

IX

B strolled into his brother's office. He knew the Raikage was going to be pissed that it had taken him so long to get back but he had made a few pit stops and enjoyed the journey back to Kumogakure. All he ever did was train and go on missions, it was nice to have a little bit of time to himself.

"Why did it take you two weeks to get back dammit?" the Raikage demanded.

"Chill out bro, I've got good news for you." The Hachibi jinchuuriki replied.

"Sit down then, let's talk." The Raikage offered and pulled out two saucers and filled them up with sake that he kept hidden in his drawers.

Obliging his older brother, B sat down in his chair. Taking a saucer for himself, he drank a good bit before setting it down, relishing the slow burn as the rice wine went down his throat.

"So tell me of this good news." The Raikage demanded impatiently.

"Konoha refused our offer to return Yugito. They believe she is one of their own, hell she believes she is one of their own. I'm almost surprised they didn't find the seal on her." B replied.

"I had a master of fuinjutsu put it on her, they won't find it. That is good news to hear. I had to gather so much intel to find out exactly where Uzumaki-san was going to be at and place Yugito in his direct path for them to meet. Her true mission of course is being hidden from her by the seal until it's time, and for now we can relax until it's time to destroy Konoha from the inside out and then we'll finish the job and be the number one nation out of the great five and Konoha will be nothing but ashes." Raikage said laughing.

"Yes, I didn't quite count on her to actually fall in love with him or him to her as hard as they did. The worst part is she doesn't even know, she honestly believes she defected until it's time for us to pull the plug on that false reality." B responded with a smirk.

The Raikage nodded. "Yes, consider mission sleeper cell a success."

"We will rule the world and we will burn Konoha down to the ground and they will pay for what they did to us."

The two brothers smiled and continued celebrating.

X

Naruto walked towards the memorial stone, knowing full well his sensei Kakashi would be there. Since he had known the ninja, he had always spent unusual amount of time at the memorial, praying to his dead comrades and friends. He had planned on coming here too, to say goodbye to his Sandaime, a man who was like a grandfather to him.

He remembered when he was attacked at nine and lost his eyesight. Life had been so hopeless for him then, he hadn't wanted to live. But he had and he had lived angrily, hurting those who hurt him. Then he had met Sasuke and Sasuke became a brother to him, he had formed his first bond. It was crazy how happy a bond to someone could make you.

To feel like you're not alone anymore.

To know someone cares for you.

Then he had met Kakashi who had become an older brother to him, almost a father figure to an extent. He had looked up to him and realized he wanted to be a lot like him. Then he had bonded with Yugito, fallen in love with her and it wasn't the connection that formed that day, he had known as soon as he met her that he wanted her. Watching her fight, bantering with her, he had forgotten about what little he cared for Ino and eventually came to love Yugito, a love stronger than anything he had ever known.

A bond that couldn't be broken.

He knew she would never hurt him.

Arriving at the memorial shrine he also noticed Sasuke there. He hadn't seen him either since he left the hospital and he approached his sensei and comrade. Silently, he knelt down next to them and prayed and said his last goodbyes to the Sandaime.

No words were exchanged between the three. They knew each other enough to the point where speaking was mute.

As sad as Naruto was, he was happy.

His life was looking up.

He had friends, he had bonds, he had freed his father from Orochimaru, defeated key members of the Akatsuki.

He was no longer alone.

He sobbed, but these were no longer sad tears, they were happy ones.

For the first time he could recall, he was genuinely happy.

**FIN**

Final Author's Note: Ugh, writing this took a lot out of me but I'm happy to have finished this. I know there's still a lot of plot holes I didn't close up and this probably could have had a better ending but I'm pretty content. This is my first completed Naruto fanfiction and it took nearly 3 years but finally it's done. I have no idea when I'll work on the sequel if I even can anytime soon considering what I've been through 4 deployments, got married and had a kid, but finally I completed this. To my faithful readers, thank you, it's been a blast and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. It might feel rushed, but I tried to pace it as best as I could and hopefully you'll love it as much as I did as I wrote it. Until next time.


	17. Thank You

Yo,

To my fans of Requiem of A Demon. I'm sorry I haven't started working on the sequel yet. To catch you up to speed on the whirlwind that is my life, I got out of the Navy and got married to a crazy psycho bitch who broke both laptops I had and didn't support my writing whatsoever. After leaving her I've been on some weird spiritual mind trip trying to make sense of my life and the world around me. And I started writing a crazy book called the Ascension. Essentially it's anime inspired, there's a lot of fight scenes and it has a lot to do with the whole Mayan 12/21/12 stuff. I would very much love for you guys to read it in light of what's going on in the world we live in and not just in the US either. I hope you guys check it out and I'm writing this note not just to promote the new book I wrote but also to let you know that now that I finished the first book of the Ascension I'm going to start writing Naruto again. I'm not sure if the next book is going to be called Requiem of a Jinchuuriki or Requiem of a God but I'm definitely going to start so please give me a little bit of time and it'll be out soon. In the meantime you can read the Ascension until you get the first chapter of the new Requiem book. I promise you'll love it, especially if you love Naruto and my writing style. Thanks to all the fans of the book who support me and pushed me to finish the book and start the new one. I was surprised that so many people wanted to see the sequel so bad so I figured I'd do this to give you an update. Thank you and God bless.

PS: I got a review saying that they couldn't find my book and to post a link so here it is. s/8435476/1/The-Ascension

Ja Ne!


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